To Rise and To Fall
by sassinakblack
Summary: Together they rose against Voldemort...Together they fell to their deaths... Lily and James
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me! don't sue!

Chapter 1

**I**t was the last year for Lily Evans at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For the last six years her home had been the enormous castle, with its long halls and interesting classes. She sighed deeply, already missing the school. _Seven years_, she thought _was too long a time_.

She finished braiding her thick red hair in a hurry. She was surprised the bell had not ringed yet. Walking quickly she made her way down to her Charms class; she spotted her friend Remus Lupin looking nervously around. Lily looked at him, he looked worn-out. She had noticed along with most of the school that Remus was always sick, a reason he was most of the time gone from the castle.

"Hey Remus!" she said happily. "How are you feeling?" she asked conversationally. She was surprised by how sharply Remus looked at her. "Er- I heard from Lessa that you went home because you were sick," she added quickly.

"I'm fine," he said. Lily noticed how his brows relaxed. She nodded and turned to leave. "Hey, Lily," he called, Lily turned. "Thanks for helping in the essay for Charms I scraped through." Lily blushed and smiled.

"It was nothing," she said. Again she saw him dart his head around nervously, before she could ask what was going on they heard a burst of laughter, a door slam shut with great force and feet scurrying towards them. Two students appeared, sweaty but cocky and triumphant.

Lily recognized them. Sirius Black: the handsomest guy in school that all girls pined for. Except Lily, she was immune. He had black, sleek hair and the most gorgeous gray eyes, but what girls went crazy for was the smile.

James Potter was the second student; also handsome, in Gryffindor, captain of the Quidditch team and the Head Boy. James Potter was muscular, tall and had black messy hair that he always ran his hand through. His hazel eyes were enough to make any girl woozy.

Lily gave both of them a reproving look. As Head Girl, Lily should be reminding other students to behave. But here she was telling the _Head Boy_!

"See you in class Remus," she said coldly. Lily Evans did _not_ like James Potter. He was ….

"Wait a minute where are you going?" James Potter asked. "A girl should never have to walk to class by herself. I'll walk you." He finished his sentence with a grin that quiet clearly said '_you-can't- resist me_!'

Lily wanted to slap the smile off his face.

"No, thank you," Lily said. "I am not a dog that needs to be walked. I know my way to class perfectly well." She had not taken half a step when she heard Sirius Black laugh. She knew she would have to pay for speaking to Potter that way.

"Immature, irresponsible, self-centered, arrogant, bully…" Before she could finish, she felt something tug at her arm. Her notebook fell and Lily turned to be facing the angry eyes of James Potter.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your ego," Lily said with apathy. James didn't answer instead he picked the notebook and handed it to her. Lily smiled and took it – James let it drop. Lily's eyes flashed dangerously and she suppressed a scream of rage as James kicked the notebook away from her. Then without his eyes ever leaving hers she walked to the notebook and he kicked it again.

"Argggh!" Lily cried, "You little beast! Give me back my notebook this instant!"

Lily was beyond herself in rage. This was no way for the Head Girl to behave.

James gave the notebook one final kick. Lily saw it soar up into the air and land perfectly in the foot of the door of her class. James waited for Lily there, angrily Lily walked to him and picked the notebook up, before she could say anything James moved closer to her and began speak in her ear.

"Next time," he said, "let me hold your hand." He turned and was gone.

Angrily Lily made her way into her seat ignoring the professor and sat on either side of her friends. Lessa Campbell, was the same height as Lily, above five feet, she was slim and had electric blonde hair and clear blue eyes. Leidianna Fowl, sitting on her left had honey brown hair and blue eyes. Hers were deeper and more passionate.

At that moment Leidianna was laughing, Lessa was trying to hide her own smile. Both girls found the little scene between James and Lily funny.

Anger flowed through Lily's intense emerald green eyes, as she stared at her friends laughing. Leidianna tried to suppress her laugh but ended snorting out, causing students to turn.

"I-I am s-sorry, is just that, I thought it was so funny. Lily's anger boiled, her face became so red, she looked comical.

"Oh yes! _Wonderfully_ funny_, graciously_ funny, to be embarrassed the way I was! _I don't think so!_"

Professor Flitwick gave Lily a reproving look and continued with the lesson.

Lessa laughed all of a sudden and was followed by Leidianna. Having no choice Lily began to laugh.

"All right, it was a little funny," she admitted.

Leidianna stared at Lily and suppressed a gasp, whenever Lily thought James had been a tiny bit decent – disaster followed.

"Lily may I remind you that you are now _Head Girl!_" Leidianna hissed. "If you start a war with Potter again Dumbledore will surely take your badge!"

"Who said anything about a war?" Lily whispered from the corner of her mouth. Professor Flitwick was sending them disapproving looks.

"Lily, the last time you said those words was in our fourth year!" Lessa interrupted. "I am surprised you are still here!"

"I have to do something!" Lily hissed and even more quietly Lily murmured in a firm whisper. "This means war Potter!"



She had to think of something, a prank that should embarrass Potter, but that wouldn't incriminate her. She had skipped dinner and went straight into patrolling.

Lily could take only so much of Black's taunting. She didn't know why she bother dwelling on Black's comments. They treated everyone like dirt beneath their toes. Cursing anyone who dares to stand their way, literally. Lily frowned, moving briskly along the corridor.

Lily loved the patrolling part of her duties as Head Girl. She had freedom to explore the castle and had come to find many passages and rooms she did not believe existed. Besides, walking helped her take out her anger on Potter and his gang.

"That self assured idiot! He thinks he is above all law, he and his gang."

Lily's fantasy of getting Potter in trouble had diminished through the years.

Ever since Lily had sat in the stool with the Sorting Hat below her ears and Potter had made her red hair turn to carrots. He had appeared at her side and pulled one of her thick carrots, and munching he had yelled, "Carrot! Carrot!"

Ever since, Lily hated him. The whole school had laughed and Lily might have forgiving him but he kept on playing pranks on her. And they were never caught.

No one knew it was them who had been out of bed and that they had jinxed the Slytherin Quidditch team to croak like frogs and move like pigeons. Lily knew but had no proof! _Marauders_, that's what they called themselves. And each had a secret name known only to themselves.

"You like that, you little Mudblood!" Someone hissed from inside a classroom. Lily stopped to listen. "Hit him again – maybe our message isn't clear enough!" Lily's eyes hardened as she heard a thud and a small yelp.

She recognized those voices- Slytherins. Quickly Lily walked to the classroom and threw the door open.

"Step away from him!" she demanded in a firm voice. Her eyes quickly took in the scene. Two seventh year Slytherins beating on a smaller boy of twelve. "Name?" she asked the boy.

"Max Pancy," he whispered.

"Go to the nurse, and then head for your common room."

The boy nodded and fled. She turned her face to the bullies. If there was anything she hated it was bullies.

"Rosier and Travers," she said with disgust, "Fifty points each from Slytherin."

Rosier and Travers laughed.

"The _Mudblood_ is taking points off from us!" Rosier chanted. He took a step forward and Lily took her wand out.

"Don't forget Rosier, you may be a Slytherin but I know more about jinxes and hexes than you'll ever need."

Rosier sneered but hesitated watching Lily hold her wand steady, bile rose in her mouth as Rosier fingered her hair.

"You know Evans; I always wondered why you stayed in this school. It isn't for the likes of you."

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _Lily hissed to Travers. Travers' body sprang together in a full body bind his body with no balance fell face down.

Rosier grabbed Lily's wand hand in a grip to break fingers. Lily gasped but didn't let go of her wand. Rosier angrily smacked her hand against the wall, hard. Lily whimpered and let go of her wand. Rosier smirked and Lily furious swung at him with her left fist. She made contact with his neck, near his windpipe. Gasping and chocking he let go of her. Lily took her wand again only to find Travers up.

Lily cursed as Travers kicked her wand away and threw himself at her.

Lily vaguely realized that the door opened. Just as she saw Travers fist coming down on her Lily felt him off her.

James Potter stood in the room; he had cornered Travers and Rosier and held two wands in his hands. Rosier with a roar threw himself at James and Travers grabbed Lily by the neck.

Rosier grabbed one of the wands and hurled it out of James' reach. James punched Rosier on the face and turned to Lily. He flicked his wand in her direction and a thin, smoke like shield appeared. Travers shouted in pain as the shield began to burn his wrist. He let go. Potter looked at both of them his wand on them. He made a move too complicated for Lily to follow.

"Now you'll think again before going for L- the Head Girl!" he said in a dead whisper. "You will have detention and I'll talk to Hagrid – I think the owlery needs cleaning." His jaws clenched. "Leave."

They left.

Once gone Lily slid into the floor gasping. He walked to her and knelt beside her.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Lily looked at him – was he concerned?

Lily nodded and tried to stand. James offered his hand but Lily ignored it.

"Are you all right?" he asked again.

"Yes." Lily said crisply. She hadn't forgotten what he had done earlier in the day. Lily put her hand to her neck and flinched. She saw James tense.

"What are you doing here?" she asked angrily. Potter looked at her in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" he asked treading carefully.

"I mean you are out of bed, past curfew. Fifteen points from Gryffindor."

"What! _Why_?" Potter roared. "I'm Head Boy I'm supposed to be patrolling the halls!"

Lily looked at her watch.

"No," she said coolly. "Today your patrolling time ended at 10:45. It is 11:30."

Potter shook his head in disbelief and anger. Before he could argue back Lily had already left the room.

"Damn her!" he whispered.

"And if I see Black, Lupin, or Pettigrew with you it will be another further twenty points," she added rounding the corner.

James followed her with his eyes till she was out of sight.

"Damn her! All right Sirius, you can take it off now," James said. "I'll have to report this to Dumbledore," he said with disgust.

"Are you sure? Lily is crazy!"

James nodded and turned to face Sirius. They bend down over a statue outside the classroom and began to whisper.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor Potter! I warned you!"

Sirius growled and James fumed in anger. Lily smirked and left happily to bed. She was tired and still had a lot of homework to finish for tomorrow.



Lily was the last one of her friends to go down to breakfast the next morning. She was early, but late in her usual schedule. She had sat down and grabbed a cup of coffee when the owls arrived with the day's mail.

Her tawny owl Ella found Lily and put the envelope in her outstretched hand. Lily opened it and began to read; surprised to see her father's writing.

She barely finished the usual greeting when a Howler rattled the ceiling and made her ears throb.

"DAY ONE POTTER!"

The scarlet envelope turned to flames and the ashes fell on James' breakfast. Lily put her letter away and helped herself to toast.

Three owls carrying a massive package made their way to the Gryffindor Table. Once they found James they flew to the top and together they let go of the package. Midway through the air the package opened.

SPLAT!

Sirius and Remus in either side of Potter covered their noses and the dragon dung landed on James.

A sign appeared on top of James' head, big enough to be seen by all of the Great Hall.

_Norweinian Fertilizer_!

The hall rang with laughter and Lily glowed in her seat. Leidianna and Lessa were staring at Lily, unsure whether she was responsible for the display. Discretely Lily made as if she was reading the newspaper, from the corner of her eye she saw James red-faced and angry.

She saw him take out his wand and muttering furiously said, "Scourgify!" Lily frowned as the dung was removed from James. She put the paper down and noticed that twice he had tried to catch her eye. On the third time Lily looked up and laughed at him.

She heard Leidianna's comment on their last transfiguration class. Lily looked at her schedule.

"Oh!" she groaned. "Transfiguration is first today! I can't believe I forgot. MgGonagall is going to be on my case!" Lily could feel James' eyes on her and she wanted to leave, "I'll see you in class," she said and left.

Lily almost ran out of the Hall. She was about to turn the corner when James bellowed from the entrance Hall. Lily turned around and faced him, her emerald eyes poured coolly into his angry hazel ones.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, how may I help you?" her tone was casual and polite.

"I know it was you who sent those owls. Step carefully Evans, because I will fight back." James turned and left to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Professor MgGonagall _was _on Lily's case that day. She made Lily stay after class to tell her very seriously that she would be assigned a tutor if she didn't improve. Three times a week. Lily gave the Professor her word that she would try harder.

After Transfiguration Lily went off to Potions. She wasn't having any trouble with that class; in fact she was competing with Snape for top student.

Charms: Lily excelled in that class. There was no one better than Lily. She knew all the charms in all seven books and most of the ones found in the library. Defense Against the Dark Arts was her second favorite. Lily, James, Sirius, and Snape were top four.

When the day was over she went to the common room. She had extra work from MgGonagall. She was tired after her patrolling but happy that it was James who had the late vigil that night.

She hurried through the extra work knowing she was doing as badly as she had in class.

"Oh well," she thought "It can't be helpful if I am a dunce in Transfiguration."

It wasn't until half past three that Lily grabbed her things and went to the dormitory.

Lily felt she had only slept for five minutes when she woke up to people poking her.

"What's wrong with her?"

"This is the first time she overslept in Seven years!"

"Do you think she is sick?"

It took seconds for Lily to recognize the voice of Lessa and Leidianna.

Lily yawned and looked around her.

"What you doing?" she asked sleepily.

"Are you sick?" Lessa asked, looking hopeful.

"No," Lily said confused.

"Then why are you still in bed?" Lessa asked startled.

"Oh, I was up late doing homework," she answered.

"What did I tell you!" Leidianna said. "I knew it! Lily Evans! When will you become responsible enough to take care of yourself?"

Lily frowned but got up and got ready.

"Am I late for breakfast?" she asked.

"No," they chorused.

"Good, I didn't want to miss the most important meal of the day."

First thing Lily did entering the Great Hall was search for James. She found him at the end of the Gryffindor table looking straight at her. Lily smiled smugly and waved. James in turn gave her his cockiest grin ever, but his eyes told her that he hadn't forgotten about the day before.

Lily smiled at him but she was unsettled. James was planning something. Sirius and James were huddled together and whispering, and though it seemed important not once did James remove his eyes from Lily. Remus was near James but concentrating on his book. Peter, Lily saw, was nowhere.

The mail arrived like everyday; Lily chuckled when she saw James finally broke his contact with her to look wearily at the owls.

An owl did come for James, delivering a Howler. James caught it and found Lily's eyes again. Still looking at her, he opened it.

"Let the Games begin Potter!"

A box flew from nowhere and landed on his bowl spraying him with porridge. Few people laughed, but they grew silent when they saw the box shake.

James took the box and looking at Lily opened it.

On cue the candles blew out, and the Great Hall became dark, there were a few gasps from students as a golden weak light began to rise from the base.

The light grew reaching the enchanted ceiling and expanded throughout all of the Gryffindor Table. The light did not touch any student but James. The box shook harder and out came a poof and a stag appeared. White and ghost like, a dog appeared at its side.

Lily saw Sirius and Remus pale, James shook his head and Lily heard him say 'boggart.'

James pulled out his wand and sought Lily in the semi darkness. Lily's smile widened as James pointing his wand at the boggart shouted,

_"Riddikulus!"_

The stag and dog left and the candles lighted themselves. Everyone caught sight of James turning into a giant frog still in uniform and croaking out the Hogwarts School song.

The Hall rang with laughter and it was Sirius who turned James back to his self.

James sat back on his seat and nodded to Sirius who smiled and walked towards Lily.

"Good morning Lessa," Lessa smiled at Sirius. "Leidianna," he said still smirking. He turned to face Lily and his face gathered into a confused look. "Is it Lily?" he asked. Lily rolled her eyes and looked away. Sirius in turn ignored Lily and turned to her friends. Lessa and Leidianna gasped, the handsomest guy in school was talking to them. "Lessa, Leidianna," he said giving them all his charm. "Evans is your friend right?"

Lessa and Leidianna nodded. Lily, her eyes narrowed looked Sirius over. He caught Lily staring at him and a smile clicked on his face, but only for a second before it disappeared.

"Anyway, ladies, next weekend we can go to the village and I was wondering if any of you would be interested in being my date."

Lessa and Leidianna all but fainted, when Sirius gave them his most charming smile.

Coolly Lily put down her glass of pumpkin juice.

"Why are you asking them out Black?" Lily asked carefully. Sirius turned to look at her, "As far as I know you already have a date for next weekend; Anna Ferguson."

Sirius had the decency to blush.

"Well, I'll let you girls go back to your breakfast then." He smiled to James as he returned to his seat. Lily turned to face Lessa and Leidianna, who naturally were still gaping after Sirius.

"Oh snap out of it, you two," Lily said laughing. She served herself a bowl of cinnamon porridge. She heard laughter from James and Sirius and ignored them.

Lessa turned to Lily and asked for help in her Transfiguration homework. Lily snorted.

"You want my help?" Lily laughed. She stopped. Her eyes returned to her bowl, she has felt a porridge lump in her plate and she hated those. Engrossed Lily picked it up with her spoon.

A horrified, ear splitting, blood curling scream was heard at all corners of the castle.

Lily gasped ad grabbed her napkin cleaning her tongue. She had gotten a rat! A rat in her food! A huge stinging white rat! Lily panicked she pushed the plate away from her and pushed herself away from the table. She fell and brought the bowl down with her. The rat landed on her chest, Lily bit down a scream when she noticed the rat was alive. Disgusted Lily pushed it off her and saw it start skidding out of the Great Hall. Every girl in the Hall began to scream and some to hurl at the side. It was chaos, some of the guys laughed and continued with their meal, avoiding the porridge.

She stood up, her robes ruined. Angrily Lily muttered the spell that cleaned her robes. Lessa and Leidianna were fussing with her, making sure she was all right. Lily ignored them, her eyes searching.

She spotted James Potter laughing with Sirius Black, Lily's face reddened as Professor MgGonagall reached her. Lily gulped, Professor MgGonagall was known for her temper and her give away lip that became paper thin at her worst.

"Ms. Evans are you all right?"

"Yes, Professor, and excuse my behavior but there was a rat inside my food."

"What? What are you talking about Ms. Evans?"

"A rat! My food had a rat!" Lily said irritated.

"I will head for the kitchen at this moment and see who played this trick on you." Professor MgGonagall had just turned when Lily made her way to where James celebrated his victory.

Remus, she saw, saw her and quickly buried himself in a book. Peter was still nowhere to be seen. Neither James nor Sirius saw Lily. She reached them, grabbed a pitcher of milk and it down James' back.

James gasped and turned, his victory was nowhere to be seen on his face. It was quickly being replaced with new, hot, anger.

From nowhere approached Professor Dumbledore at Lily's side as she pulled out her wand.

"Ms. Evans, Mr. Potter would you two be kind as to follow me." Lily nodded and faced him but Dumbledore had already turned, Lily caught but a glimpse of his lips twitching into a smile.

He led them to the stone gargoyle and it was there that Lily risked looking at James. He was starring back with the most annoying look: Lily blushed and looked down.

"Chocolate frogs," Dumbledore said, not noticing the exchange between the Head Boy and Girl. "Follow me." The stone gargoyle moved itself and made way to a staircase.

Lily had been inside Dumbledore's office twice before, both times she had been in trouble with James.

Dumbledore motioned for them to take a seat; only one chair remained Lily stood and ignored the chair. James on the other hand held out the chair to her.

"Please seat, I'll get my own."

He waved his wand and a nice comfy chair appeared next to Lily's.

"Thank you," Lily said blushing and then frowning. Why was she blushing all of a sudden?

"Now," said Dumbledore, "I am here to discuss with you the previous incidents in the Great Hall. I believe it was the rat your food Ms. Evans, the milk pitcher down James' head, the owls for yesterday and the singing today."

Lily glanced at Dumbledore quickly- she noticed his mouth twitched. She quickly pretended to be engrossed in her shoelaces.

James cleared his throat.

"Professor, I must interrupt, but I must take the blame for most of the events. It has been my fault." Lily stared at him, her eyes narrowed, she knew Potter, – he was up to something. "You see one of my friends from France is really mad at me when I said Hogwarts is the best place to be and thus this morning relates. As to the fertilizer, yesterday, I believe Sirius has something to do with it. How a rat found itself in Ms. Evans food I cannot say. But I can excuse her behavior on personal grounds."

Lily gasped at him. He said it all clearly, and seriously, even she believed him.

"Very well, I just hope that today's encounters don't lead to another war like the one in your fourth year. You are Heads now, so please behave accordingly. Return to your classes."

Lily and James got up and left. James still being cautious held the door open for Lily.

Once out of the office James turned on his heel and left.

"Wait!" Lily called after him. James turned around and looked at Lily.

"Yes, _Ms. Evans, _how may I help you?"

Lily smiled recognizing the words and tone as her own.

"Thanks for what you did back there."

James just sniffed and turned to go again. Lily sighed and said 'conceited' under her breath.

James whirled. "Come again?"

"What?" Lily asked feigning confusion.

"What did you say?" James asked his eyes narrowed.

"I said conceited."

"You've got some nerve," James said angrily.

"And you are a pompous, arrogant, pig whose whole life has been pampered by his rich parents!"

James took a step to Lily and angrily held her at arms length.

"At least _I _know my place and where I belong!" he whispered furiously.

SLAP!

James taken by surprise staggered for a few seconds and saw that Lily was crying. Before he could say anything Lily turned and left, leaving behind a very distraught James, still massaging his jaw.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Same as before, I owe nothing!

Chapter 2

**L**ily went to all her classes that day, but her mind wasn't on them. Her head was repeating the words that James had furiously slapped on her.

'_At least I know my place and where I belong!"_

It distracted her, and again for the first time in years she wondered whether she had done right to come to Hogwarts. Lily had panicked when she heard those words they were her biggest fear: that she didn't belong to the magical world.

"Ms. Evans, will you _please_ join us!" Professor Nairobi, her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor called to her. Lily looked at him and nodded. "As I was saying, today's exam is quiet simple all you have to is prove to me that you can defend and attack your opponent…"

Lily stopped paying attention again. She recalled the time her mother helped her pack her trunk and told her there was still time for her change her mind. But Lily had remained stubborn and gotten into the train.

"MS. EVANS!" Professor Nairobi shouted. Lily stopped in her thoughts. The professor was right above her, he was frowning at her. "Since it seems that you feel superior about today's exam you can begin." He looked around the room "Ah, yes, you and Mr. Potter."

"What!"

Lily had tried to stay away from James all day. It was hard as they had the same classes.

Professor Nairobi pushed Lily forward.

'_And now I have to duel him_.'

Lily turned and faced James, who was staring at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze.

Flicking his wand Professor Nairobi made the desks, students and all retreat against the walls.

Lily and James faced each other in the middle of the classroom.

Lily clutched her wand, "Don't fail me now," she murmured.

Lily knew James was good at dueling; knew that James was good and wasn't about to loose, especially against a girl.

James took out his wand, twirled it on the air, and caught it.

Together they bowed.

James straightened himself then sighing turned to Sirius.

"_INPEDIMENTA_!" Lily bellowed.

The spell rushed form Lily's wand and caught James full force on his chest; James flew off his feet unable to get up.

'Damn her' he thought before ending the curse. James shook his head and ruffled his hair as he stood up. He had been taken by surprise, that's all.

"_RECTUSEMPRA_!" This time Lily had hit him with a tickling charm. James was astounded he was on the floor not able to control himself. Laughing and wheezing.

"_Finite Incatatem!" _James shouted.

The tickling spell left him. Now it was his turn.

"_Tarantallegra!"_ James shouted a smile on his face.

Lily was ready.

"_Protego!" _She shouted as a shield appeared around her cutting off the worst of the spell.

Lily shook her head.

She was tired of playing.

"_STUPEFY!_" She bellowed and the spell rushed at James. James was still surprised that Lily had been able to defend herself that he had only a second to duck out of the way. The spell passed by his hair but did not stun him.

This time James didn't bother getting up.

"_Expelliarmus!" _He shouted his wand pointing at Lily. For the first time a spell hit Lily. She was knocked off her feet and she lost her wand.

James quickly scrambled to his feet. He smiled; he wasn't going to go easy on a girl. She was too good.

"_Petrificus Totalus." _Lily still on the floor without her wand was defenseless as her body sprung together stiff as a board.

James took a bow in front of the class then murmured the counter curse at Lily. He held out his hand to help her up. She took it and got up as the class began to cheer.

Professor Nairobi was congratulating her on her attack, but Lily wasn't listening. James had his hand on her waist and it burned fiercely through her robes. Lily tried to push his hand away, but James wouldn't budge

Irritated Lily turned to face him. He stared back his hazel eyes fiery behind his glasses; he was staring at her strangely. Lily walked away confused.

Back in her seat Lessa and Leidianna went over her duel with James. Lily was ignoring them. She was conscious that James was staring at her every once in a while. He still looked strange – dazed…

Lily turned around in her desk and met the eyes of James, he had his cocky grin on his face, Lily smiled, and his grin grew. He broke his contact with her and faced Sirius. Sirius looked up and stared at Lily; he nodded to James and sent a wink to Lily.

Lessa and Leidianna left her as they were called to take their exam. Lily was barely aware of the curses and jinxes that passed by her.

The bell rang and Professor Nairobi made his way to Lily's desk, there he congratulated Lily for her duel. According to him she had the second highest grade coming under Potter and Black. Lily relaxed and finished packing her things. She was in a hurry that she almost missed it.

On her desk sat the richest red rose Lily had ever seen. She looked around, expecting the giver to show himself, no such thing happened. Lily looked at the rose again and touched it. The petals fell, trickling like rain and disappearing.

Surprised Lily grabbed her things and ran out the door to her next classroom. She felt lightheaded and dizzy as she walked through crowds of students trying to get to Transfiguration. Lily knew she only had a few seconds before –

The bell rang and Lily cursed.

Professor MgGonagall was going to give her the, "You're Head Girl," speech.

'_Oh well_' thought Lily.

"Lily Evans," said the stern voice of the transfiguration teacher.

"Present," Lily, said breathlessly. "Sorry, I'm late," she added clutching her side. She faced the class and noticed that all the students were paired off. Lessa and Leidianna were together, shaking their heads at her for being late.

She looked around looking for someone who needed a partner.

"Great, now this," she murmured.

"Lily, over here!"

She turned; Sirius Black sat, waving his hand at her with a cheeky smile.

"What about James?" she asked. It was probably written in _Hogwarts a History _that James Potter and Sirius Black always paired off together.

Sirius jerked his head to the left were James was with Remus and looking murderous.

"Oh," was all she said.

For the first time in seven years Lily had fun in Transfiguration. She was so bad in the class that she had come to hate it.

A bit impatient but Sirius Black made sure Lily never would forget that lesson. She was constantly laughing but her work was done on time.

"Well," Lily sighed happily. For the first time in months she had gotten no extra work for Transfiguration.

"For a bunch of mindless idiots you know Transfiguration pretty well."

"Mindless idiots?" Sirius asked, "Who?"

"You and your gang of Marauders," Lily whispered pointing at James and Remus.

Sirius groaned.

"I thought no one knew _we_ were the Marauders."

"No one knows, but the Head Girl," Lily whispered. "I won't tell," she added smiling.

Sirius groaned again and left after James and Remus.

Lily smiled. She was in a good mood, such that she even planned to gossip with Lessa and Leidianna about Sirius Black.

"No, Sirius, I told you I wanted to…" Lily stopped to listen.

'_So James was mad with Sirius'_ Lily thought remembering James' expression earlier in the class.

"You chickened out!" Sirius accused. "I couldn't just leave her standing. Anyway she knows…

"Ms. Evans."

Lily whirled around, her face now guilty.

"Yes, Professor?"

Professor MgGonagall stood by her desk. Lily cursed as the whispers of Sirius and James faded. Lily turned her attention to the professor who was still watching her.

"Your grade in the class has not improved. On the contrary Ms. Evans, it has been sloping downward since you returned," she looked away from Lily and back, "is there anything wrong?" she looked unlike her usual stern self; she was worried.

"No," Lily assured her. "The classes are just getting hard that's all."

"I'm going to assign you a tutor."

Lily groaned.

"Why? I was doing better today. I understood the lesson and it wasn't hard."

"I'm sorry Ms. Evans, but one good class will not raise your grade. You will be tutored three times a week, from eight to one in this classroom. Mr. Black is already tutoring Ms. McKay and Mr. Lupin is tutoring Charles Kirkham. The only other person able to tutor you is the Head Boy – Potter."

Lily felt she had swallowed an onion.

"You will start on Mondays, tonight, Wednesday, and Fridays. I will tell Mr. Potter. Off to dinner Ms. Evans."

Lily left Professor MgGonagall, her feet carrying her to the Great Hall. Once there she realized she wasn't hungry.

_'This is great," _Lily thought. _'James Potter, tutoring _me_! The man hates me!" _

Frustrated she made her way to the library. She decided to make a head start, as she wouldn't have time later on. She entered the library and made her way to the far left corner. She breathed in the smell of books, and magic. It was dank and sweet, odor of old, golden dust that lingered in the hands for hours after she had left the book.

Leidianna and Lessa were the only other two people that knew how to get to the corner. Three corners of the library were for all students, but the far left corner was hidden to all eyes, it didn't exist in their minds. They had discovered it on their fifth year by accident, and proved to be useful when she wanted solitude, and a good way to find gossip."

She was in the 'Corner,' her back leaning against a cushion and her feet propped against the wall, a heavy book sat in her lap and she was dong all she could to remain concentrated. But the fact that James Potter was going to tutor her angered Lily. Oh, she had been in shock when she first heard, now she was angry.

"Look Padfoot, its Snivellus," a deep male voice said. Lily looked up.

The Marauders were standing in front of her. She heard whispers and Lily half tried to hear and half tried to read was unable to put enough clues together.

From the corner of her eyes she watched as Sirius Black smiled ruthlessly and left. Lily put no importance until she heard a crash and a yell. James and Peter laughed and Remus chuckled softly.

Sirius appeared smiling triumphantly and behind him in truculence walked Snape. He was completely bald; his ears long and furry reached his shoulders. The Marauders continued to laugh uncontrollably as Madam Pince began to shoo them out.

Lily slammed her book shut and angrily left the library.

She was angry; she was outraged that someone could have no apathy. There was no excuse for their behavior. James was Head Boy! And Black and Lupin were Gryffindors, they should know better!

Angrily she passed around the Head Room. She'd teach James Potter a lesson or two. She took out her wand and began shattering any ornaments around the room with a flick of her wand.

She kept pacing, shattering the water jug, and repairing it. She heard voices outside and briskly she turned forward. James Potter came into the room followed by Black and Lupin. Peter was nowhere to be seen.

Lily burst.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She shouted. Remus jumped, both Black and Potter turned around surprised.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She shouted again. "YOU ARE HEAD BOY! You can't go around playing tricks on people! GROW UP!"

James looked around him, then in his arrogant way put his hands in his pockets and smiled. For a fleeting second Lily felt something, quickly replaced by anger.

"What are you talking bout?" he asked still smiling.

"Don't take me for a fool Potter! I SAW WHAT YOU DID TO SNAPE! HE WASN'T EVEN BOTHERING YOU!"

James and Sirius opened their mouths.

"And don't give me that rubbish about him being alive!" she said looking angrily at all of them. Remus was blushing deeply and avoiding Lily's gaze.

"Ten points off Gryffindor for bothering Snape!"

Sirius Black opened his mouth in anger.

"Ten points for Gryffindor, for showing a slimy git to rethink his actions!" James said.

"Ten points off Gryffindor for using magic outside a classroom!" she hollered.

"Ten points to Gryffindor for using magic in an emergency!" James said coolly.

"Ten points off Gryffindor for going against the Head Girl!"

James opened his mouth, stopped and looked at Sirius. James shrugged.

"Fine, ten points off, it's a better excuse for loosing them."

Lily shrieked.

"You mindless, poor excuse for a Gryffindor!"

He gave a look to Sirius and Remus, both began to back away.

"I'll deal with Evans," he said loudly enough.

"Deal with me!" Lily shrieked. Sirius and Remus left hurriedly. She turned to him. "James, when will you learn that you can't go on jinxing Snape or anyone? You are Head Boy and as such, you should be setting an example! Have you already forgotten what the Sorting Hat said? Unity! Against Voldermort."

"Yes, yes, I know that! Will you please stop shouting?"

"No!" Lily yelled with more ferocity. "It is so unfair what you did to Snape!"

James laughed.

"Don't laugh Potter! I will report this to Dumbledore you know! And my ten points off Gryffindor still stands!"

James passed his hand through his hair and laughed.

"Dumbledore must have been under the influence of a potion! To think he made you Head Boy!"

She groaned in frustration. James took two strides and stood before Lily.

"What's wrong with making me Head Boy?" he whispered. Lily tried to step back but James held her by the shoulders.

"You are not responsible, you don't follow the rules, you jinx everyone around you," she looked up to meet his gaze and gulped. '_Damn him and his eyes!' _Lily yelled inside her.

Since when did she fall for Jam- Potter!

"You don't respect authority and –."

James kissed her. It was a brief kiss, enough for her to feel the texture of his lips and to want more, but James pulled away.

"Don't you ever shut up?" he asked.

"NO!" Lily shouted, angry again. "And since you like tricks so much," Lily waved her wand at him, "there," she smiled. "You won't be able to play any tricks on anyone and you will jinx anyone you know who is trying to play pranks."

James looked at her, angry for the first time.

"You little -."

"Don't bother to remove it," she smiled ruthlessly. "It's meant to last for the school year, but once you'll try to remove it, it will begin countdown all over again."

She smiled and left. James stayed looking after her as she left without a bounce on her step or any victorious sign.

Angrily he left to find Sirius, if anyone could break the Charm, it was Sirius. Then again wasn't Lily the one teachers went to when in need of a charm?

James cursed, _'Damn that girl!"_



Frustrated Lily went to the 'Corner.' She sat and did her homework, without once loosing concentration.

She finished the three-foot essay for Potions, the essay for Charms and was mastering spells for Transfiguration when she looked down at her watch. It was half past eight, the library was empty, and she was late. Cursing she grabbed her wand and left.

Five minutes later she was in the classroom but with no James in sight.

"I get one chance to improve my grade in Transfiguration and I blow it!" Lily looked around. "Maybe _he_ is late."

Thirty minutes later and Lily was bored and James was a no show. She looked around and then because she had nothing to do she dimmed the lights and charmed her clothes. Her robes shrunk, she had on a skirt, and the sleeves were tighter. Her shoes turned to sole soft slippers and her hair pulled itself into a bun.

She flicked her wand in a figure of a sideways eight and music began to play. It filled the room as Lily parted away the desks.

It was ballet music.

Lily could dance, since she was five her mother had put her to dance. Lily was more than a bit average, her teachers accused her of not practicing, but she had no time, only summers.

She was graceful as she moved around the room like a gazelle. At first she was tense. She was in Hogwarts - a school of witchcraft, and here she was Muggle dancing.

She soon forgot and danced, her eyes closed. Her body knew the dance and the rhythm so well. She jumped and landed curled herself and opened herself like a flower. She bended and twirled.

"Hmph, Hmph!" Lily didn't hear. She had tuned everything out except the music and the beating of her heart.

"Evans!" A loud voice commanded.

She stopped and looked around, orienting herself.

Leaning on the doorframe, cocky as ever stood James Potter.

He distinguished the music. Lily walked briskly and advanced towards the desk her wand sat on. Quickly she returned to robes and her hair neatly fell to her shoulders.

"Sorry about that, but I grew tired of waiting."

'_Why am I apologizing, _he _is late!'_

"No it's fine," he said coolly, "you are very good at it if I may say so. I bet you practice."

There was silence as Lily waited for him.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" James asked completely lost.

Lily stared at him in disbelief.

"Right, tutor!" James looked down at his watch.

"No," Lily said, "you haven't apologized for being late."

"Apologize?" James asked. "You want _me_ to apologize for being late?" he laughed in disbelief.

"You kept me waiting!" she snapped. "And if you must know ladies are not supposed to be kept waiting. I was under the impression that it was the same with wizards. Muggles at least have manners," she said hotly. _Why had he kissed her? And why was she feeling giddy all of a sudden?_

"If you must know _you_ were late! I was in time, waited for you for fifteen minutes, and then this _rude_ wizard without manners thought you had forgotten and went to look for you. But no one had seen you all day long, so back I came after searching the castle! It is now close to ten, your tutoring time is over and it is not my fault that you decided to dance around, and look so contrary to you manner that I was speechless."

Now he was angry, he turned around and left.

"I'll see you on Wednesday. Be here on time."

It took Lily several seconds for Lily to realize what James had said. She ran after James who was at the end of the corridor.

"James, wait!" she called.

"What?" James asked once Lily had caught up with him.

"You forgot something," said Lily her voice calm and cool.

"What did I forget?" James asked his voice hoarse.

Lily was very close to him now.

"This," she whispered.

SLAP!

James' face turned jerkily to the left.

"That's to remind you to keep your eyes to yourself and not to ever rethink of kissing me again," Lily raised her left hand ready to strike him again. His right cheek was coloring rapidly.

"_Expelliarmus," _said James acidly. For the second time that day Lily was thrown clean off her feet and her wand was ten feet away from her. _"Accio wand," _James' voice was almost as cold as before, but he was regaining his cool. Once he had Lily's wand in his hand he pocketed it.

"_Accio Lily." _This time he was grinning. Lily zoomed towards him and stopped right in front of him. He didn't even let her talk, before he cried, "_Petrificus Totalus!" _again Lily felt her whole body respond to the whole body bind. She saw James smiled. "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _James knew that under the body bind Lily wouldn't stay on her feet. With the levitation charm he positioned her standing in front of him.

"This is what I forgot," said James with a smile.

He bent down and kissed her gently on her lips.

He then turned away, murmured the counter curse and threw her wand to the floor. When Lily turned around he was gone. She looked down the passage but saw nobody.

She bent own to pick her wand and felt a gentle breeze pass her through. She looked up, there was no one.



So... What do you think? Should I continue...?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

By Wednesday both Lily and James agreed to forget about what happened earlier on the week. James apologized to her and Lily accepted the apology. When eight o'clock was announced both of them where in the Transfiguration classroom.

James nodded to her and sat down motioning for Lily to follow suit. They sat silently for some minutes, Lily looking down at her hands and blushing, knowing that James was staring.

"Lily, what's your favorite class?"

She finally looked up.

"Charms," she answered. James nodded.

"You also like potions," he said. Lily nodded. "All right, we'll go from here."

Lily watched him as he sunk into the desk and turned to look as her.

"When you do a charm, you expect a result right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"So when you transfigure something and nothing happens, you become frustrated?"

"Yes, I do."

James looked at her and smiled.

"Rule number one – where magic is concerned it doesn't pay to get it right the first time. Now think about that. Charms… Tell me Lily what are some rules that come in handy when performing a charm?"

Lily stared at James, _'where was all this leading?'_

"Well you have to pronounce the words correctly, if you don't the spell might not work. The right wand movements also, and I think that concentration helps a lot."

"Yeah," James said, "that's right, how about Potions?"

"Having the right ingredients and doing all the steps correctly and in order."

James laughed, "If you know this, why are you doing badly in Transfiguration. Apply both concepts to one subject. Pronounce the spell correctly, do the right wand movement, follow the steps in order and confidence might help." James laughed at her.

"You know," Lily, said smirking, "hearing you speak, now I can see how you did all those pranks."

James stiffened.

"How _did_ you find out that it was us?"

Lily laughed softly.

"It's not hard when you aren't exactly secret about it, huh Prongs?"

James turned to look at her sharply.

"You know about that too?"

Lily nodded.

"I don't know what they mean…_yet_."

"It's going to stay that way."

Lily smiled, "Don't count on it."

James shook his head, "Back to work."

She took no notes, as James didn't want her to. Lily listened to his voice and stored everything he said. She loved it. He was funny, as Lily already knew and he knew his stuff.

They spent an hour talking and discussing the theory behind Transfiguration. Lily was raw on her basic knowledge, but by the end of the hour her knowledge had increased incredibly.

"All right, let's try now."

James brought forth a chair.

"Turn it into a lamp."

Lily tried the spell and not to her surprise the spell did not work. He turned to James, scowling.

"Patience is a virtue," James said mocking her.

Lily glared at him and he laughed.

"You rushed through the process," he said gently, "it must be slow and graceful – every step necessary – like when you dance," he whispered.

Lily looked up at him and swallowed.

"You're tall," she said lamely. James laughed but the tense moment had passed.

After three failures in a row Lily was ready to throw the chair out the window.

"Relax, breath, focus," he winked at her, "it's magic."

Lily turned her attention to the chair – again.

"_Mutatio Lucinaria!"_

Lily opened her eyes, realizing until then that her eyes had been closed.

James clapped from behind her.

He gave her quiet different objects to transfigure. The hardest had been to transfigure a pencil into a worm. But she managed.

"Great," James said smiling. "You got the basics today. Maybe by Friday we can try the level of Transfiguration you _should _be doing."

She smiled and covered a yawn.

"Come on it's almost ten," he hesitated for a second and then looked back at Lily.

"Do you want me to walk with you or will you still feel like a dog on a leash?"

Lily laughed and looked at him.

"You know Potter that look suits you better than your arrogant self."

"What look?"

"I don't know that nervous _I- don't- know- what- to- do- next!_-look."

James stopped and looked at her.

"You barely realized – I've been wearing it for you for almost five years."

Lily swayed in her feet and her arms reached out for something to hold.

James got to her in time and gently lowered her to the floor.

"Are you all right," he asked.

Lily nodded and then shook her head.

"I haven't had any lunch or dinner and all I had for breakfast was toast"

James frowned at her.

"That's careless of you."

Lily sighed. Leidianna would say the same.

"Come on," James said, "I'll take you to the kitchens and ask for food. Something light though."

He offered his hand but Lily ignored it. Together they set for the kitchens.

Lily still felt lightheaded and her eyes burned hot.



The days turned to weeks and week to months. By the time they entered December Lily was close to James. Her grade in Transfiguration was improving and so was Professor MgGonagall's attitude towards Lily.

James was a great tutor; his assignments were tougher than MgGonagall's but more fun to do. He gave her tests and by the end of November James accused her of swallowing information. He threatened to drown her in the lake if she even thought about excelling in Transfiguration and leaving him with second best.

Their tutoring sessions grew to only Mondays and Wednesdays. As members of the Quidditch team, Eric Chant the captain wanted all of his team every Friday.

"He'll kill us," James told Lily on a Monday, "from the moment classes are over until past seven! I don't know what the deal is! We are the best bloody team in the school!"

They argued now and then about magic and Head duties. Their arguments though always became heated when it came to the world outside of Hogwarts – Voldermort.

Thinking about James, Lily felt strange. He never tried to talk to her outside their tutoring sessions, or during Head meetings. He was always professional – get the work done. He smiled at her at passing and greeted her every morning. Not that she wanted him to say anything…

It was Sirius Black who walked over during lunch to seat with Lily and Leidianna and Lessa. It was Sirius who sat with her during classes and did their work together. He was a friend who always improved her mood. He was witty, elegant, and nosy. Still it was James who…

There was nothing that Sirius would not ask. He practically knew her whole childhood, and anything to do with Muggles.

"I should drop Muggle studies," he said, "all I have to do is talk with you for an hour or two and I'll be a Muggle expert."

"Yeah," Lessa said. "But please don't, have pity for Lily; she won't stand you that long."

Lily and Leidianna laughed. Sirius glanced at her and threw her a roll of bread.

"See," Lessa, pointed at him, "you proved my point exactly!"

Sirius gave a dramatic, melancholy gaze.

"Very well, I know when I am not wanted." He stood and gave all of them an elaborate bow. "Ladies," he smiled. He took Lessa's hand and kissed it gently. "Adieu," he said and left back to James, Remus, and Peter.

Lily was laughing. She had been the one to teach Sirius how to bow. Lessa had calmed down enough to send an apple at Sirius.

Professor Slughorn saw and gave Lessa a detention. Finally they returned to their breakfast – now cold. But even before touching it the mail arrived.

Lily quickly cast a glance at the flying owls. Her tawny owl Ella wasn't among them.

Lily frowned. She had sent home half a dozen of letter and she had gotten no reply. Ella did come often to see Lily or to have some bacon. It was strange because Lily's mother had always written. She threw back her memory trying to remember the last letter she had gotten.

Lily's frown deepened as she remembered; it had been in September – two weeks after the start of the term. It had been her father's writing and she has never read the letter.

Her frown turned to panic as she thought that something had happened at home. She endured her Wednesday schedule of double potions and double Defense Against the Dark Arts, lunch then back into a classroom for two hours with Flitwick and another two hours with MgGonagall then dinner, homework, and tutoring with James.

'_Double James' _thought Lily.

The day was over and she passed on dinner to rush to the Gryffindor Common Room. The Fat Lady was asleep and no matter how much Lily called out to her she would stay snoring.

"Merlin's beard!" Lily cursed. The Fat Lady woke and gave Lily a talking to. Lily nodded patiently and waited for the ranting to be over for her to go through.

The common room was packed and it took her a while to locate Lessa.

Lily stood in front of Lessa frowning. It took Lessa awhile to realize that Lily stood there.

"What?" Lessa asked.

"Er…Lessa, do you remember when was the last time Ella brought me a letter from home?"

Lessa, who had turned back down to her notebook looked at Lily. Seeing Lily, Lessa frowned.

"Wasn't it the same day that you set those owls on James," Lessa said with a small smile.

"Er, well you didn't throw it away. I saw you pocket it and I was you put it in the trunk. Why?"

But Lily was already rushing up the stairs.

"_Accio Letter!"_

A dozen or so letters flew towards her. Quickly she went through the dated until she found one – _September 12._

She was about to read it when her watch went off. Lily cursed – she had five minutes to get to the Transfiguration classroom.

Once inside Lily looked around but James wasn't inside. Glancing down she noticed she was three minutes early.

Waving her wand she flicked the candles on and sat down in the nearest desk.

_Dear Lily,_

_How are you daughter? Well, I expect and healthy. I hope you still bring sunshine to the corridors of that castle. Send my regards to your friends Lessa and Leidianna. _

_I suppose you are asking yourself why I am writing._

_Lily – she is dead. _

_Be strong, Lily. Finish reading. A few nights ago, I came home from work at the usual hour. Vernon Dursley had come for your sister earlier on the day. I came home finding a green sign above my house. A green skeleton with a snake coming out of its mouth. I didn't think much of it until I went inside. The house was a chaos and in the middle of all disaster laid your mother. She is dead. I am sorry. I took your mother to the hospital where a group of doctors could not identify the cause of death. She is lost._

_Lily – one question. Was it from your world?_

_Father_

_Cosimo Evans_

Lily took a deep shuddering breath. There was nothing she could do to stop the pain. Her heart would not whisper encouragement. Her mother had been dead for almost four months and Lily had never known.

She knew the killer. Who else but Voldemort's Deatheaters left the sign of the skull? The sign of death. How could Lily not recognize it after seeing it for months and years in the newspapers?

Tears and sobs escaped Lily. She swallowed the golf ball in her throat and let the tears flood out. Only tears. She sobbed silently, that her own ears couldn't hear.

Her mother was gone, not lost. She was never going to come back. They would never talk, never laugh, or hug. The woman who cared fro her and was happy and proud of her daughters. The woman who did her hair for her first graduation, who bought her first broomstick. That woman gone. Impossible!

James walked in smiling. He looked at Lily who sat as stone. Not moving, not breathing, and crying. He looked for the source and his eyes fell on the letter. He smiled sadly.

"Was it your boyfriend?" Lily didn't move. "Was he breaking up with you?" He shook Lily's shoulder. She was scaring him. "Did he say, 'it's not you, it's me' or did he use 'I barely see you, you are never around, how do I know you don't have another friend in that school.'"

Lily shook her head.

"My mother was murdered." Her voice was soft, dry and showing no emotion. James looked stricken. "She has been dead for almost four months James. _Four months_! And I had no bloody idea! I always thought my family would be safe. I was wrong. Voldermort killed her." She said Voldermort's name with no hatred, with out feeling.

"How do you know it was him?"

Lily looked at James.

"How bloody do you think? The bastard left the same skull, the same sign that has been seen in the past ten years!"

"How long ago?"

"Four months, almost. Imagine, here I am laughing at the world, while my mother was dead and buried. I didn't even bloody read the letter!" she looked away.

"She was right, my mother. She told me, when I was eleven, 'Go child, if you want, I am right behind you. But remember that if you do you'll bring a plague upon this family!' And she was right! She was right! It's all my fault! If I hadn't been here Voldermort would have left my family alone! I should be dead not her! Not her!"

James grabbed Lily by the shoulders and shook her.

"Don't say that! Never say that!"

"I as good as killed her the moment I accepted this life."

He pulled her from her chair and kissed her hard and furiously, bruising her. He hugged her, her body close to him, pulling her closer and feeling his body touching hers. She kissed him back and James hugged her more ardently.

"James!"

Sirius stumbled inside and stood surprised by the door. "Never mind, I'll return later. No wonder he likes to tutor Lily so much. Two hours – I mean whoa!"

Sirius had closed the door and Lily stood shaking, but she clung to his body. And he hugged her, resting his head on top of hers.

"Lily, I'm sorry – I shouldn't have especially at a moment like this. You make me act rash."

He tilted her face and kissed her again – just as deeply, just as passionately. Lily still shook.



The next morning Lily sent a letter to her father, hoping he would answer and understand why it had taken her so long to recognize her mother's death.

A letter came back the next day from her sister Petunia.

_No, do not bother to return during the Holidays. She is gone. Everything has already been done. You will just make father worse. Reminding him of her. We know it was your kind of people that killed her. Stay there. _

_Petunia Evans_

Lily did not cry again but her sister's words hurt. She didn't ask for permission to go back to her home.

She felt closer to James after telling him about her mother. There were kisses between them, and hugging. Once Lily dared to fall asleep on his shoulder during his tutoring session.

Lessa and Leidianna both knew about Lily's mother, but if anything it had separated them more than anything had. Lily didn't consider Lessa or Leidianna friends, just acquaintances.

She had known them for seven years but she was always treated differently. At first Lily thought it was because she Muggle-born but James and Sirius were both Purebloods and Sirius felt more like a friend than either of her girl friends did.

The division grew until Lily was practically one of the Marauders. She even began using the strange nicknames they had for each other. James was Prongs, Remus was Moony, Sirius was Padfoot, and Peter was Wormtail.

She didn't yet know why they called each other those names. She did know that she had one too. They used it but not in front of her.

Meanwhile her charm on James worked perfectly. There were almost no pranks around the school, hence Peeves decided to take the job.

A day before Christmas break James came from behind Lily and hugged her.

Lily stayed there between his arms.

"Lily," he said after awhile, "I am no Muggle. I don't know how you honor death. But I think that it is stupid for you not to somehow recognize that your mum is dead. You couldn't do it in your world – we'll do it in this one."

"When?"

"Has to be a full moon. It'll be me, you, and Sirius."

"Peter and Remus?"

"Both going home. Remus' mum is sick."

Once the Christmas break started Lily was constantly with James, and Sirius. The common room was empty except for them three.

Sirius disappeared from time to time.

"Going to the village to visit a friend," he would answer.

At first she thought it was an excuse to leave her and James alone. But she doubted after she had seen him leave with James to check on something.

Alone she had sat by the windows, as snow snowed the school grounds. She almost jumped when she heard a door slammed in the boys' dormitory. Curious she floated to their room, to find Sirius kneeling in the middle of the room kneeling and shuddering.

"Nooo! James! Lily!"

"Lily! Lily!" Lily opened her eyes. She was by the fire.

'_How had she gotten there?"_

"We have to go now sweet." James said reaching for her hand.

"What happened?" Lily asked disoriented.

"You fell asleep." Sirius answered from her right.

'_Had it been a dream?'_

"No," said Sirius still looking at Lily.

They left the tower and made their way to the lake, still not frozen. It was midnight. James walked at her right his hand around her waist, Sirius on her left and holding her hand.

She turned to face him and as if he knew he stared he turned and smiled at her.

They got to the lake, Lily astonished at the sight of the full moon above the lake.

James took out a black rose and gave it to Lily. Lily held it to her, then crying softly she threw it on the lake. The rose floated, following the moonlight.

"_Lieveht Abhil Pallium Requietum!" _

The rose burned. Red flames consumed it. A breeze appeared carrying the ashes towards Lily.

She caught the familiar scent, the usual caress in her hair and a soft tickle in her cheek.

"Mum," Lily whispered, "mum." The ashes flew from her, burned once again, and were gone.

She turned to James but instead her hand was placed in the back of a magnificent white stag. Startled she turned to Sirius. on her left a huge, shaggy, black dog stared at her. On cue a wolf howled, the dog without hesitating followed suit. On her right the stag threw forward his head and stamped the ground.

Lily looked forward. Her body feeling lighter than it had on weeks. Guilt that she had not paid her respects to her mother, guilt that her mother was dead because of her, was gone.

The dog barked and pulled at her robes. Lily laughed and scratched his ear. Her attention was again captured by the stag. She turned and headed for the castle. The next time she looked James and Sirius were back.



Christmas dawned and Lily woke with Ella pecking her.

"All right, all right, I'm up."

She felt lonely having no one else in her dormitory. At the foot of her bed were her presents. Lily laughed at the pile. The first one she opened was from her father; a pair of emeralds that had belonged to her mother.

'Petunia would freak if she knew' Lily thought as she picked them up.

Hagrid had sent her a huge box of Chocolate Frogs. Lily felt guilty. She had sent a present to Hagrid, but it had been ages since she had last seen him.

Leidianna gave Lily a new set of brushes, since she has lost Lily's last pair.

Lessa gave Lily a beautiful statue of a wolf. It was alive. She could feel the paws beating against the ground, the tail moving impatiently, and its mouth pulled to make a nice howl. She could hear it. Lily loved it, it was a beautiful present.

James had given her a diary. The cover was made of some strong material, but soft to her hands touch. Lily opened it and was surprised to see writing on the first page.

'_December 25- Lily looks for James' JP_

She shook her head and looked down at the last present. She opened the box and out feel an orb, no bigger than a snitch. Lily was surprised to find it snow cold. She opened it and saw her initials, and behind it a Lilly. Lily was surprised. She traced the Lilly and gasped as it started to snow inside the room. Every snow flaked hit the ground making a different note. She realized it was playing a tune.

Once it was over Lily looked for a card but found none. She was puzzled but left to go find James. She found him in his room, still sleeping. Sirius was awake and at a window looking outside. In his hand was a red rose. Not as beautiful as the one Lily had seen. She cleared her throat and Sirius with a sweep of his hand made it disappear, then he turned to look at Lily.

"Very queer present you gave me, Lily. What is the use of a stone key?"

Lily smiled and ignored the question. Instead she went to him and hugged him.

"Merry Christmas, Sirius," she said. She turned to kiss his cheek, but at that moment Sirius turned. Lily kissed his lips. She stepped back startled. Sirius smiled.

"Sorry for ruining that. I should have kept still." His voice was gallant and he was amused. "Oy! James, mate!" he bellowed at James' direction. James was up and looking for his glasses.

"Did Lily wake up yet? She should be here."

Sirius sighed and chuckled softly.

"James, the damsel is here, you monkey! Don't you know that it is rude to keep a lady waiting?" He winked at Lily and left.

James sat up on his bed and stared at Lily.

"Mornin'," he said trying to stifle a yawn.

"Good Morning, James." Her voice was shaky.

He smiled and patted a spot in the bed for Lily. She shrugged and walked over. Lily had jut sat when James pulled her close to him, her body on top of his. He hugged her, happy of just feeling her warm in his arms.

"Happy Christmas, Lily," he said and kissed her. "Happy New year," he murmured as he kissed her jaw and nibbled her ear. "Happy Birthday," he pulled her closer and kissed her longer. "Happy Easter." Lily laughed and accepted the kiss.

"So are we celebrating all the holidays today or something?"

"I wanted you to be the first person I saw this morning. Of course Padfoot had to go and ruin that…" He frowned and took Lily's hand. "Lily I have been wanting to ask you something lately…" his voice faded away.

"What?"

"Have you noticed Padfoot lately? There's something wrong with him. He won't tell me, and I'm his best mate. When he goes quite like this, it means its grave."

"I dunno Prongs, if he won't tell you, why would he tell me?"

"Because you bewitch people Lily, that's why."

She laughed. "All right… er… a bad girlfriend?"

James shook his head. "He's been single all year long and I don't think he's been going on dates at all."

"Family problems then?"

James began to shakes his head, and then stopped. "Oh, Sirius," he looked at Lily. "That might be it." He sighed. "Hmmm, anyway, Lily will you be my girlfriend? I know we have a relationship but I haven't officially asked you out. And I thought today would be a great day, since its Christmas and all. Except that if you say no it would be sad." He was nervous and pale and it only worsened when he realized that Lily was silent.

"It's okay of you say n, even of it is Christmas. I am not forcing you at all. I just thought I'd ask just to make sure. I already know that there is a possibility that you will say n–"

_"Silencio,"_ Lily whispered holding James' wand. James fell silent. His mouth continued to move and it took awhile to realize that no words were being heard.

"Nothing would make me happier, James than to be you girlfriend. Yes, I accept."

James tried to whoop but the spell still held him silent. Instead he pushed her onto the bed to that she was under him and kissed her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They went down to breakfast together, holding hands and their stomachs grumbling for food. The hall was decorated as usual; the twelve Christmas trees and all the House tables had vanished. Sirius met them at the foot of the Grand Stairway and gave them a look.

"James, do you know what peculiar gift your girlfriend gave me?" He didn't continue until he saw that James nodded to his emphasis to the word _girlfriend_. "Finally!" he muttered, smiling he turned to Lily waiting for an explanation.

Lily sighed in frustration. "The Stone Key. You haven't heard of it?" Sirius shook his head. "I am not surprised. According to where I got it, the key is supposed to be able to open any door- no matter the spell that was used to lock it. That key will open it. The bad thing is, it only works once."

Sirius laughed. "I don't need to think about it. I already know what door I will be opening." He laughed wickedly.

"Which one?" James and Lily asked.

"The Slytherin's Common Room and I can trash Snivellus' room!" Sirius winked at them. James laughed and Lily gasped horrified.

"You better not Sirius Black or I will tell!" Lily snapped.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist love – I won't do it."

Lily wasn't reassured. James chuckled at Lily face. "Don't worry sweet, he can't."

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean I _can't_?"

James frowned, "Because you dimwit, I am still jinxed."

Sirius scowled, "So? Last time I heard I wasn't!"

"Really?" James asked. "You just told me about it, now no matter what plan you used to enter the Slytherin's Common room you will get caught."

Sirius growled at Lily. "What kind of person are you?"

They had a good breakfast and then on Lily's suggestion headed to the grounds to visit Hagrid. Lily had been friends with Hagrid since her first year in Hogwarts. She knew little about how the Marauders knew Hagrid; she knew that the Keeper of Keys had had to fetch them out of the forest a couple of times.

As they reached the edge of the forest they spotted Hagrid's hut. The smoke from the chimney curled heavenwards, making them hurry for the warmth of the cabin. They had barely knocked on the door when Fang began to bark and scratch at the door. Few seconds later Hagrid's head poked out.

"Oh, its ye three," he looked at each of them in turn and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Come in, come in. First, I am gonna 'uppose that the three of ye were mighty sick since none of ye 'ave come ter see me. Thank you fer the present Lily-nice new set of mugs." He put another log in the fire and began to prepare tea. "Now what have you been up to Lily?" He glanced at James and Sirius. "Mighty curious company yer keepin' now days."

"Sorry Hagrid," Lily whispered. "I have been busy with classes and tutoring –" Sirius coughed and Lily blushed. "And I-I just learned a while ago that me mum passed away."

"How did she die?" Hagrid asked.

"She was murdered. _Murdered_ by that bastard of Voldemort." Her voice was harsh and full of anger. "My father found her body while a green skeleton danced over the rooftops." Lily took a deep breath and she quietly mastered her emotions.

Hagrid tactfully changed the subject by looking at James and Sirius.

"This is strange. Lily Evans is in the company of James Potter and Sirius Black. If I remember correctly Lily, you said you've never be found in the company of people such as James Potter. Troublemakers, pair of livin' poltergeist I remember you calling them." He chuckled at Lily's discomfort; Lily was blushing and ignoring the looks from James.

"Well this is simply funny," Sirius laughed. "Now she is his girlfriend!"

The afternoon passed with all of them talking about their vacation. Lily was mildly surprised to know that there was no antagonism between the Marauders and Hagrid. What did surprise her was the revelation of Sirius' family. He confessed to Lily that he had run away from home last year and that the Potters were taking care of him.

By dinnertime they were all hungry and Hagrid agreed to walk with them to the castle. The Great Hall was a beautiful. Christmas carols were playing and snow fell from the ceiling only to vanish before landing on the table. In front of Lily, James, and Sirius held each other by the shoulders as they sang along, chortling in laughter when they didn't know the song and made up the words on the spot. There were less then twelve students staying in the school, the table however was packed with food enough to serve an army. Lily laughed as she saw the surprised face of a first year.

"Welcome," Dumbledore called to them. Everyone sat down and as if of one mind they all began to eat. The table sang with cheery whispers and laughter and with the beautiful voices of fairies as they sang. Lily ate greedily, eating a little of everything. James and Sirius on the other hand shared four stomachs each. They ate two huge servings of everything.

Lily looked around the table feeling happy at the sounds of laughter, and wondering how her sister and father were doing. Professor MgGonagall was enjoying herself talking with Hagrid and to Professor Nairobi. Lily was surprised to see the Defense of the Dark Arts Professor; Nairobi had told them all about his plans for the winter break. Looking at the Headmaster Lily listened closely to the debate between him and Slughorn. Catching her eye, Slughorn smiled and turned to her.

"Here Dumbledore will settle this matter by asking my top pupil Ms Evans?" Slughorn winked at Lily, who was scowling but was amused all the same and waited for Dumbledore's answer.

"Very well," Dumbledore smiled. "I see you will not stop pestering until I admit you are right. Please, Ms. Evans, we need your honest opinion." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling with amusement.

Slughorn's smile broadened. "Do you feel Ms. Evans that even though in Potions we follow the same steps at all times as a class; there are different auras around the potions that correspond to the person brewing them?"

"Yes," Lily responded.

A few hours later Lily excused herself from the table. She waved James and Sirius way telling them to stay, as she was tired. She made her way to the common room where she found the Fat Lady and her friend Viola. When Viola saw her she laughed and winked at her.

"Yeas, she is the one," Vila whispered. "He finally got her to go out with him."

The Fat Lady looked at Lily is disbelief, "Is it true?"

Lily nodded blushing.

"There you see!" Viola laughed. "Now you own me a good bottle of cognac!"

"About time too," the Fat Lady snorted.

Liy gave the password and dizzily made her way to the girl's dormitory and her bed. Unconsciously she changed into her nightgown and crawled into bed. She didn't even acknowledge that she had fallen asleep.

It was a few hours late that Lily woke up with a start. She knew she had been dreaming but the images escaped her. Her body was sweaty and feverish; unable to go to sleep she made her way to a window and yanked it open. A blast of cold night air blew inside with the recent snowfall.

Shivering from both hot and cold Lily sat by the fire. She curled on the floor and within seconds she was asleep.

She had a feeling it was the same dream as before. Albus Dumbledore stood talking with a couple. As Lily drew nearer she recognized them. It was she and with James. But they looked different, older. She heard nothing of their conversation. Lily noticed a fourth person in the conversation - Sirius. She saw Dumbledore sigh as he attempted one more time to change James' mind, but James stood firm, his arm on Sirius shoulder. Dumbledore turned to face the dream Lily, but Liy too stood firm with James, at last Dumbledore nodded.

The dream disappeared and Lily found herself in the middle of a living room. Sirius sat on an armchair by the fire, on his hands laid a photo album. The room was quite and peaceful with the merry crackling of the fire. Sirius chuckled from time to time. She was unaware of any disturbances, Sirius on the other hand, stood in the middle of the room, and clutched at his wand.

Lily got the feeling that he had been expecting the intruder. He was tall, the intruder, with a hooded black cloak that covered all of his face. He must have said something, Sirius' response was to laugh and shake his head.

In seconds the quite living room was turned into a war zone. Both men attacked. Lily was unable to see the damage they gave each other. Green light flashed from the intruder's wand. Lily didn't see Sirius fall.

"Nooooo!" Lily woke up, her dream vividly etched in her mind. "Nooo!" she shouted again getting up. Her vision blurred and her whole body trembled as she walked down the stairs and into the common room. She went crashing through all the chairs of the common room and had to crawl up the stairs into the boy's dormitory. She yanked the door opened and fell inside.

She walked drunk in fever to Sirius' bed and threw herself to the side.

"Sirius! Wake up! Sirius!" she shook his body frantically. "Sirius please wake up!" the words were coming out choked in fervent sobs.

Sirius woke up and stared at lily, from a bed across the room James was also awake.

"Lily?" James asked confused. Lily ignored him. Sirius sat up in bed and looked at Lily. Her feverish green eyes met his, and he moved forward not knowing what the matter was.

"Sirius, wake up! Please wake up!" Lily begged.

"I'm awake, Lily – What's wrong?"

Lily hugged him, crying. "I thought… I was so sure he had gotten you, you…" she broke off and cried. He held her as she cried. "What's wrong? Lils, what's wrong? Tell me…" Sirius looked over at James, who was just as puzzled as he was.

She pulled away from him abruptly.

"Sirius, I want you to promise me something, please I beg you!"

Sirius puzzled and worried nodded.

"Never become a secret-keeper, you hear! No matter what or who it is! Understand?" She was whispering hysterically.

"I understand," Sirius, said not knowing what she was driving at.

"No, Sirius you don't understand!" She took his hand, clasped it to hers, and took out her wand. "Just swear to me, for James, for me that you will never become a Secret-Keeper. Even if it is me asking you. Please swear it!"

Sirius stared at Lily. She was whispering rapidly and barely breathing. Her wand was pointing at their joined hands.

"I, Sirius Black promise Lily Evans and James Potter never to become anyone's secret keeper. This oath I place on the lives of my friends James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Lily Evans."

A brilliant flame shot out of Lily's wand and wove its way into their clasped hands binding them together in red-hot flames. Sirius stared, his face sickly white. The oath done Lily got off the bed and backed away until she bumped into James, who had gotten up. She looked up at him surprised, her hand reached out to his face.

"Oh, James," she whispered and fainted. James caught her took her to his bed, his hand felt her forehand and he sucked in his breath.

"Get the nurse Padfoot, you best hurry."

Sirius nodded and left in a hurry, as James moved the covers away and got a towel wet and pressed it to her face. It didn't take long for Madam Pomfrey to get to the room along with Professor MgGonagall and Sirius. James got out of the way when the nurse began to fuss around Lily, muttering spells and shaking her head every so often.

Sirius and James were watching until Professor MgGonagall grabbed them both by the cuffs of their pajamas and pulled them a couple of beds away.

"Could one of you explain to me why Ms Evans is in this dormitory, at this hour?" sniffed the professor. She was looking at James so fiercely and James could only gape at her.

"She burst into the room murmuring to me to promise something," Sirius said. He summarized what had happened, he only omitted two things, what the promise was about, and the fact the Lily had made him swear an Unbreakable Vow. "She even ignored James," Sirius whispered.

Professor MgGonagall sniffed and turned to Madam Pomfrey.

"What is wrong with her Poppy?" asked the Professor.

"High fever, hallucinations, screaming nightmares, Minerva the fever won't go down. I think it was magically induced. I am going to have to leave her here and wait for the fever to run its course. I have given her a potion, she'll be able to sleep untroubled." Madam Pomfrey turned to James and Sirius. "Let her sleep. I won't move her today."

Professor MgGonagall waved her wand and the drapes around the bed closed and transformed into lighter and transparent material.

"Please do not disrupt her," she said as she followed the nurse out of the room.

James looked at lily for a few minutes then got into another bed and turned to face Sirius. "That was an Unbreakable Vow, wasn't it?" he asked.

Sirius nodded and turned away.



Next morning Lily was already gone. Together James and Sirius walked to the Great Hall for breakfast. When Lily did not show up, they decided to pay her a visit in the hospital wing.

They entered to find Lily on a bed screaming at Madam Pomfrey. Bedridden, Lily confused Madam Pomfrey with her dead mother. Lily kicked, screamed, and changed from memories. One minute she was talking with Lessa and Leidianna, the next she was struggling against the firm grips of Madam Pomfrey.

Her body came crashing down, whenever she began to thing about _the promise_. Madam Pomfrey's job was made harder, as Lily refused to take the potion. No amount of magic held her long.

James and Sirius stood on the doorway, horrified. It was Madam Pomfrey's shouts of help that jerked them awake.

"Look here both of you - hold her down, so that I can give her the potion." Her words came out with a struggle as Lily arched her back and fell hard on the bed.

James and Sirius didn't waste time. James grabbed Lily's hand and Sirius grabbed both of her legs. James managed to grip both her hands and held her down. Sirius on the other hand had barely touched her when Lily wrenched out of his poor grip and sent him flying to hit another bed nearby.

James held on, fighting her. Her legs kicked and she tries to jump off the bed.

"Lily, stop this!" he shouted, "Be still!"

To their utter astonishment Lily answered.

"James?"

"Yes, I'm here. Please be still. Madame Pomfrey needs to do her job."

James handed her the cup and Lily drank it in one gulp. Seconds later she was asleep.

"Well," came the surprised voice of Madame Pomfrey. "Well, you have been the first person she recognized. She cares about you deeply Mr. Potter." She left.

"Wow," said Sirius rubbing his elbow.

"I know, that was weird," said James.

"Not that! That's some strong chick on that bed. Remind me never to get in a fight with her."

For the next week, Lily was in grave danger. Madam Pomfrey was still unsure as to what was causing Lily's sickness. Lily passed in and out of reality, sometimes recognizing them and sometimes not. James had the most success in getting her to listen.

Five days after Christmas Lily woke up, her head clear. James, she saw, slept in a chair next to her. His head rested in her bed and one of his hands held tightly to Lily's.

Lily sighed.

"You don't look so cocky when you sleep."

Lily whispered touching his features gently.

James woke up.

"Lily?" he whispered, "What are you doing?" he caught Lily's hand over his cheek, "are you trying to learn me by heart?" he asked.

"No," Lily answered softly. "I already know you by heart." She sighed and fell back into her pillows, too tired to remain awake.

"Me too," James whispered, kissing her.



The next morning Lily woke to having Madame Pomfrey at her side.

"Where's James?" Lily asked at once. She could see by the light streaming from the window that it was sometime early in the day.

"He went down to breakfast a few minutes ago." She turned to face Lily fiercely. "He has been sitting down on that chair every night. It's been me and Black and some good jinxes that have made him go to bed some nights." She smiled at Lily. "I had to threaten him with not allowing him to come at all. He wouldn't hear of it. However, Potter needed his rest."

"What happened?" Lily asked amused.

"They decided to take turns; one night each."

Lily nodded, grateful to them both.

"Will you be wanting some breakfast?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Yes, please." The door opened and a bit to Lily's disappointment, Sirius walked inside.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked, happy to see Lily almost to her normal self.

"I've felt better," she said. "Madam Pomfrey told me that you and James took turns to be with me."

"Yeah, well you should have seen Prongs. He was one of those zombies from Muggle movies.

Lily laughed. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost two weeks."

Lily sighed and Sirius hesitated.

"Do you remember what happened the day you got sick?"

"No, I barely remember anything. I kept having funny dreams about my sister and her two sons."

"What's so funny about that?"

"She's not even married." Lily's voice was shaky and he could see a bit of the old madness in Lily's eyes. He didn't ask what he wanted know – the Unbreakable Vow. He was saved by the entrance of Madam Pomfrey with a tray.

"Toast, fruit, and tea, that's all and if you feel nauseous about any of it, quit eating." She pushed Sirius ahead of her and left Lily.

She ate some of the fruit before she began to feel the tendency to vomit. In the end she only drank the tea.

Still weak because of the lack of food and energy Lily fell back asleep.

She woke to the feel of someone brushing something through her hair. She opened her eyes to see James by her side.

"Morning," they both said at one. Lily smiled and James laughed and then kissed her.

"What time is it?" Lily asked, pulling her hair away from her face.

"Well Madam Pomfrey said that when she came to take your tray away yesterday you were already asleep. It's about eight."

Lily gasped.

"Are you telling me I slept through the day?"

James laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"That's exactly what I am saying sweet."

"The nerve of it!" Lily said outraged at herself. James laughed again and Lily relaxed in his arms.

Relaxed, Lily's senses sharpened. She opened her eyes and looked around. There was something familiar about the room. That smell…

Lily's eyes widened as she caught sight of a rose. It was the same kind she had gotten in the classroom after her duel with James.

"James!" Lily exclaimed, "thank you for the rose!" Lily laughed, "It's beautiful."

James looked at Lily startled, he opened his mouth, but Madam Pomfrey walked in.

"Ms. Evans, I finally discovered what has been ailing you." Madam Pomfrey frowned, "But, it is quite impossible, which is why it took me so long to diagnose it." She looked at James and Lily. "STOP!"

Lily jumped and looked at Madam Pomfrey incredulously.

"Don't you dare touch that rose!" She said gravely. Quickly, Madam Pomfrey took out her wand and performed a shield around the rose.

Lily gasped, recognizing the spell.

"A Washambella?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Do you know of it?"

Lily nodded. "The Death Shadow Rose."

"What?" James asked.

"It is a magical plant illegal in the magical world. It was banned in the 1400's by the minister of magic, Howell Jason Jenkins. It has magical properties so strong they kill only by smelling them."

Lily nodded again. "How come it didn't kill me?"

"Have you seen another one?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Yes, in September."

Madam Pomfrey shook her head confused.

"I don't understand; both roses should have killed you. Unless…unless they were too old."

"Alright," said James, "answer this, who would send them?"

Madam Pomfrey looked from Lily to James pointedly.

"NO!" James shouted angrily, "you can't possibly believe I sent her that Washamallawa!"

"Washambella!" Madam Pomfrey and Lily corrected in unison.

"Whatever!" James said. He turned to the nurse. "I care about Lily and I would never dare to do anything, hear, anything that in anyway would harm her."

"Well, it was either you or Black." Madam Pomfrey said, "You two have been the only ones allowed in this room."

"Yes, but I can swear on anything that I am not a murderer and neither is Sirius!"

"I know," said Madam Pomfrey.

"James, calm down, I know it wasn't you."

"Do you suspect anyone, Ms. Evans?"

Lily shook her head, "I thought that it was a gift from James."

"I didn't send it…" began James.

"We settled that already," Lily said. "The last times I saw one of the Washambellas its petals fell and disappeared to the touch."

"That at least proves it; the one that you touched was old, really old. That's the reason for your recent fever."

Lily shuddered.

"Be careful Evans, it might be just another boy trying to show his affection, and does not know about its deadliness."

James scowled, "Who would send Lily flowers? As far as anyone is concerned she is my girlfriend."

Lily turned to him, irritated.

"Don't you dare talk about me as if I am a possession Potter!"

"Well you are!" James said. Lily stared at James, "My girlfriend!"

"Yes, but almost no one knows that, as we just got together."

"That doesn't matter!"

Madam Pomfrey walked out, whispering about students and at the same time muttering about going to Dumbledore.




	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lily wasn't able to return to her dormitory until first of January. She spent the days remaining from Christmas break trying to get her strength back. She walked back along the corridors of the castle, still too cold to be outside on the grounds.

A few days later all the students returned. The cold castle became merry with students, all of them excited to talk about their holidays. The gossip became louder when the school found out that the Head Boy and Head Girl were dating.

The only two students surprised were Lessa and Leidianna. The rest of the school sighed in relief. Remus and Peter offered their congratulations to Lily, while Lessa and Leidianna stood plant-like behind them, mouths open.

"But you hate Potter?" Lessa almost shouted.

Lily shook her head, "I don't hate him. I care about him, he makes me laugh and I like being near him."

"When did this happen?" Leidianna asked taking a seat.

"When he was tutoring me," Lily said. Lessa's eyes opened wide. "Well, he finally got his chance to prove to me that he's not an arrogant, selfish, bully…"

"We get it," Lessa said grinning.

"He is good; he's smart, funny, caring, thoughtful…"

"We get it," Leidianna interrupted her.

School started the next day. From day one the teachers began to pile homework, and classes started with the usual speech "NEWTs are approaching and you have to begin studying…"

Lily had no trouble leading the school in most of the subjects. In Charms she excelled, the person that fell in second was fifty points behind. In Potions Lily was first and fighting for it with Severus Snape, he growled at her when she scored one point higher than he did in the practice test. Snape managed to get first place in Defense Against the Dark Arts, something that Sirius said he could fix later. While Professor Nairobi congratulated Snape, Lily pestered Sirius about leaving Snape alone, Sirius agreed if only to shut her up.

In Transfiguration, James did the impossible to beat Lily. They were close, usually no more than three point ahead of each other. He kept tutoring her on Fridays, as he was busy with Quidditch practice and other duties as Head Boy, plus all the extra homework that the teachers had added because of the NEWTs.

Lily could tell however that it wasn't the NEWTs that held James preoccupied; rather it was the idea of loosing at Quidditch that had him awake at night with the rest of the team as they made strategies. Hufflepuff had Slaughtered Slytherin on the match before Christmas break. The following match would be Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor.

On January 9, Lily woke to find several packages and birthday cards on her bedside table. Lessa, Leidianna, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, Lily frowned at finding no card from James. All of them wished her a happy birthday; most memorable was Remus' card that began to sing when she opened it. When she came to Sirius she opened it carefully not knowing what to expect.

A butterfly flew from the card and buried itself inside lily throat; she had no time to gasp before the butterfly flew back out and became part of the card again.

"What in Merlin's…?"

Letter began to appear in the card.

_All of your past jinxes_

_Will no longer exist_

_That includes James' anti-pranks…_

_-Sirius _

Angrily Lily put the cards away in her trunk. She had forgotten about the spell Sirius had used, he must have done a lot of research since it was old and not many people would know about it.

Lessa and Leidianna woke up soon after, and Lily was surrounded with hugs. They went down to breakfast and to two classes and they had the rest of the afternoon off.

Being eighteen didn't save Lily from homework; on the contrary Professor MgGonagall left them so much homework, that half the class complained about having only the weekend, when clearly they needed a decade.

Instead of the celebration that Lessa and Leidianna intended, all three girls decided that it would be better to start on the homework. They worked steadily all afternoon and by eight o'clock they had a good amount done that they decided to call a day.

As Lessa and Leidianna made their way to the common room, Lily walked to the Transfiguration classroom to wait for James. Since the memorable afternoon where both Lily and James had been late, by silent consent both of them had agreed not to be late. Lily made it to the room on time only to find that James was late.

Lily's frown deepened. She hadn't seen James all day and he had been absent from all his classes, so had Remus. Lily shrugged and took out her homework, finishing the review sheets that MgGonagall had left them. She flew through most of the questions that were basic knowledge.

_'Knowing MgGonagall, she most likely put those questions expecting many of the students to have forgotten the basics,'_ Lily though with a grimace.

She had three sides of the papers dome when James walked into the room. He looked as if he had been running a long distance, he was sweaty and his clothes were in disarray, Lily however didn't miss the cocky grin.

'_No doubt he already started a new prank. He knows the spell is off. Damn Sirius!'_ Lily fumed in her seat.

"Lily, are you here?"

"Yeah, are you all right? You sound –"

"Yeah, fine, we have to go," he said impatiently.

"Go? _Go where?_ It's Friday, you're supposed to be tutoring me, remember?"

"I know but this is important!" He didn't wait for Lily's answer before he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out the room. They where outside when he pushed her back in.

"What _are _you doing?" she snapped, and then she gasped. "What is wrong with you?"

"I already told you that I am f –"

"Really? Then where is the rest of your body?"

"The rest of my b-" James looked down at himself then at Lily. His body wasn't there. "I don't see anything wrong."

Lily snorted, shaking her head at him. "What spell did you try? I can see your head just fine," she said patiently.

"_Damn!_ Stupid charm didn't work! I tried to disillusion myself, apparently it didn't work."

"Apparently," Lily murmured while James tapped his head with his wand. The rest of his body returned.

"Here, I'll do it," offered Lily. James stopped her.

"Give me your hand, that way I won't loose you."

"Loose me? You're the one that is going to be invisible!"

"Just hurry up!" He said, he was impatient to be off.

"Fine!" Lily hit James hard on the head with her wand, a bit harder than necessary.

"_Ouch!" _James complained rubbing his head with his left hand. At least Lily assumed that was his reaction, as she could no longer see him. "Now you," he said. Lily tapped her head and soon her body was gone too.

Again James wrenched Lily out of the room. They didn't walk but almost flew into the corridors and out of the castle. Lily began to get angry with James, she didn't have a cloak with her, and it was snowing!

"James, it's SNOWING!" Lily whispered frantically.

"I know," he said and stayed quite.

In the dark Lily had lost herself. They could be climbing a mountain for all she knew. Even the lights of the castle behind her were dimming. Lily began to trip and curse under her breath; James' arm always steadying her and stopping her from falling. Sadly for him it didn't stop her anger.

All Lily knew was that it was dark, it was snowing, her shoes were soaked through, her teeth were chattering, and somewhere behind her was a warm castle with a fire and a bed with her name written on it.

Lily looked up and wrenched her hand away from James.

"Lily, _come on!_" James said. Lily on the other hand wasn't listening, let alone moving. James was taking her to the Forbidden Forest!

"Are you crazy?" Lily shouted angrily. "I am NOT going in THERE! There are all kinds of beasts in there! No way James! By Morgana's Cauldron, there are even werewolves in there!" She tried to loosen James hold on her, but he wouldn't budge.

"There are no werewolves in there," he whispered. His words had barely been said when a long howl started from the forest and was picked up by others.

"What was that?" Lily almost screamed.

"That's only a pack of silly old wolves!"

"James, stop lying!"

"Fine, there _is _one werewolf but he is friendly."

"FRIENDLY! Are you insane! It is a full moon tonight! He could be wandering the forest!"

"No because he isn't in the forest on a full moon!"

"How do you know?" Lily asked testily.

"Because I've talked to him!" James said pulling Lily forward.

"You… you've talked to _him! _Are you _mad_?"

"No, and don't worry," he managed to drag Lily to the entrance of the forest. He rummaged around the nearest tree for a while.

"Here put this on," he said handing her a cloak, Lily put the cloak on, one handed, James still refused to let go of her wrist. He took another cloak out and pulled it on. He turned around to face her. He squeezed her hand for reassurance.

"Relax," he said. "Hagrid will be there. There's nothing to fear where we are going."

"And _where _are we going?" Lily asked. James chose to ignore her,

"Besides," he said after a while. "Sirius and Peter are in Hagrid's hut in case something does go wrong."

"So there's a chance that something might go wrong?"

"Yes, but they are mostly precaution. Now please," he pleaded. "We have to go."

"Fine!"

He pulled her into the forest. He seemed to know where he was headed. At first it was easy for Lily to follow James as he led her through a path. A quarter of an hour later he turned left, away from the path.

"Lily, turn on your wand," he said a few minutes after. A stream of white pale light shot from both their wands, James continued to lead Lily, this time over roots of trees and leaves.

Lily noticed for the first time that there was no path. Lily turned to face the sky but her sight was obscured by the branches of trees. The trees had become so thick Lily was unable to see one star; there was only dirt and trees.

An hour later they were still walking. Lily's breath was coming in sharp gasps. James on the contrary was fine. They had been walking in silence, Lily's anger growing. Anytime she wanted to start a conversation James would silence her.

"We are almost there," James said quietly. They continued walking; the only noise heard was Lily's breathing and footsteps. She had been in awe at how silently James blended with the forest.

Lily heard a second set of footsteps and stopped dead.

"James, you are not taking me to see your werewolf friend are you?" Lily asked afraid.

James growled. "Of course not! I would never put you in that kind of danger Lily! Besides he is _not_ in the forest tonight!"

"You brought me here! And if we are not going to see wolf-man, whom are we going to see?"

"James? Lily? Is that the both of you?"

Lily jumped hearing a new voice. It took her a while to recognize Hagrid's voice.

"Yes," James answered smiling at Lily who had jumped into his arms when she had heard Hagrid. She loosened her hold around him, as she knew she wasn't threatened in anyway.

"Hello, Lily," Hagrid said quietly.

"Would you mind telling me what we are doing here?" Lily asked frowning.

"Hasn't James told you?" he asked. Lily shook her head. Hagrid threw a disapproving look at James, who smiled sheepishly. Hagrid shook his head. "We might as well move on."

Hagrid led them behind a tree. Lily stepped forward behind Hagrid. From the corner of her eye, Lily saw James send a shower of green light. He turned the light from his wand and followed Lily. Lily's whose wand was still alight murmured "_Nox!_" The light in her wand died.

Hagrid stepped down and sat between two enormous tree roots, he helped Lily sit next to him and James at her right.

When her view was clear, she gasped. She looked in disbelief at the land around her. Between the time she had crossed the forest Lily had traveled to a new world.

The sky opened around the pond, clear white water. The moon fool and bright reflected to every corner of that world.

Inside her Lily felt the deepest affection and respect she had ever felt. It was the most wondrous feeling of fear, an ache in her heart for all that was.

Her eyes drank the landscape of snow and ice. She didn't feel the bitter cold that snow usually brought. She only felt fresh, light whenever a gentle breeze would caress her face.

The starts hummed in agreement with the world. Between the tree roots lay eggs. Beautiful, white, and crystallized eggs. Huge eggs, some bigger than a dragons, others smaller. She had forgotten that James and Hagrid were with her but was reminded when James pulled her in an embrace.

"The Hatching Grounds of Unicorns," he whispered in her ear.

Lily looked at him in disbelief. James laughed at her disbelief and twitched her nose playfully.

"You hear right," he said. "Unicorns."

"I didn't know unicorns hatched from eggs."

"Not all of them do. But watch…" James pointed to one egg. It was glowing and there was a crack in it. It began to quiver and the egg rolled away. The cracked widened and the shell began to glow very bright. Lily covered her eyes, but James lowered her hands. She saw the bright brilliant light flash and for one second all the woods around her where in light, then a horn trusted up into the night, followed by a head and neck all gleaming in gold.

The dark lashes of the unicorn opened and looked around. The eyes reflected the light of the moon. It was then that the humming grew louder and she realized that it was the song of stars.

From behind the trees came two grown up unicorns. There were pearly white, so white they made the surreal snow look almost grey. Lily's feelings became sharper, wonder and fear surpassed all others, she didn't know whether fear was for herself or for the unicorns.

The older unicorns led the newborn to the pond. Together they began to teach the new colt how to drink.

"We best go now," Hagrid said bored. She, like James, knew that unless unicorns ha killer fangs or poisonous hooves, Hagrid wouldn't be interested.

They left the hatching grounds after Hagrid. At the entrance of the forest Hagrid left them. James removed the disillusion spell from both of them. Once both of them were visible, James gave her his cockiest grim, and took both her hands. He hugged her to him and spun her around.

"Happy Birthday, sweet," he whispered in her ear. He buried his hands in her hair and pulled her closer. Lily smiled, and James kissed her. Hand in hand they walked back to the castle. Lily was no longer angry but at peace. It had been the best present ever.

They were opening the double doors when Sirius appeared unexpectedly behind James.

"Prongs, we have to go!" Sirius said quickly looking away from Lily.

"What are you doing here?" James asked apprehensively.

"Sorry," Sirius said. "You gave the signal and I left with Pettigrew to be…" again he stopped when he saw Lily. "You were safe with Hagrid so we went ahead with the plan, only he escaped."

Lily saw that it wasn't the news that James wanted to hear. James' whole body went stiff, his mouth turned into a grim line, his eyes calculating. Lily stared in wonder. She didn't recognize that James, he looked ages ahead of her.

"James, are you all right?" she asked. "Who is Sirius talking about?"

Lily's voice brought James back to reality. He gave a small spring, turned to Lily and smiled.

"Happy Birthday sweet," he said kissing her. "I am sorry. I have to go." Sirius nodded to Lily and both ran off onto the night, disappearing into the darkness.

Lily entered the castle alone, trying to understand the conversation she had just heard. She was near the common room when she remembered her things were still in the Transfiguration classroom. Sighing, Lily retraced her steps when Filch stopped her.

"Why it is little Ms Evans walking around past curfew," he said wheezing.

'_Great, just great!' _ Lily thought. _'Hateful little man.'_

"Follow me, you disgusting ball of pus," he said. "We are paying professor MgGonagall a visit." He was laughing and petting the head of his awful cat Mrs. Norris.

"I don't think so Mr. Filch," Lily said authoritative.

Filch turned to look at her, "What?"

"I was just doing my duty as Head Girl. I was in the Head Dormitory, when two students sneaked inside and destroyed half the room. I was after them when you caught me."

Filch growled.

"I could have caught them, but I with all the racket you have made, it is quite impossible. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. I am quite tired."

Lily held her breath as she began to walk away.

"Never mind, my sweet, let's see if we can find the other slime balls lurking about in the dark."

Lily waited until he was gone, dashed into the classroom where her books were at and rushed back out. She got back to the common room to find the Fat Lady awake. Lily asked her if any of the Marauders were back. The Fat Lady yawned and shook her head,

Feeling wide-awake Lily took her things out and continued doing homework. She finished the Transfiguration and moved on to Charms. It was four in the morning when she finished the five-foot long essay for Charms and still no Marauders. She sighed and dragged her book of Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had barely begun when she dozed off.

A log cracked and she woke up.

She began to feel anxious as dawn approached and there was still no sign of James or Sirius. At six the door opened and James, Sirius, and Peter walked in laughing, the last thing Lily felt like doing. She sighed quietly in relief at seeing them alive, and then in horror at what she saw.

Sirius' robes were trashed. His robes around his chest and back were in threads. There were scratches in his chest and the same marks in his upper arms. Dried blood could be seen and smelled.

James had a nasty cut above his left eye. His robes were just as in a sorry condition as Sirius'. He had a bruise on his arm and another one on his cheek. Peter on the other hand exhibited only a bloody ear.

They didn't see Lily, and Lily petrified just stared after them. One question kept popping in her mind: _What had attacked them?_

She knew James would tell her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A week later and still nothing, Lily had without a doubt believed that James was going to tell her what had happened. She was determined not to ask him, James was going to tell _her_. She trusted James.

But for the rest of the week they disappeared and every night they came late. Sometimes at midnight, other times close to dawn, sometimes they came with no scratches or bruises. More likely they were hurt, but not one of them would complain, instead they would be amused.

When they found Lily awake, she would say she was studying. Both James and Sirius would look abash, but neither would explain.

She felt sick in her stomach to think what would happen to them every night they disappeared. They didn't change during the day. They attended classes and during the day she never saw a scratch or a bruise in their bodies. She asked Madam Pomfrey if she had seen any of them but the nurse said she hadn't.

It was Friday again and Lily was sitting by a window in the Gryffindor Common Room, reading. '_Trying to read_,' Lily thought. She was debating between telling Lessa and Leidianna all that she knew about the Marauder's and their recent behavior. She voted against it. She knew James, he trusted her that whatever she found out about them she would remain silent about it. _'James,' _Lily thought.

Sirius walked into the common room, he closed the portrait of the Fat Lady. Lily frowned, she had been sure that James and Sirius were upstairs in their dormitory.

Sirius held something in his hands, when he saw lily he hid it. Lily's resolve broke; she was going to have to ask Sirius what they were doing.

"Hi Lily," he said nervously.

"Hey," Lily said absentmindedly. She took a deep breath. "I want to ask you about what you have been happening this week," she said loudly and fast.

"This week?" Sirius asked confused.

"Yes, I know you and…"

"Could you hold on? I need to go grab something from my trunk."

"Fine," Lily said irritated. Sirius made his way to the left stairway.

"Sirius," Lily reprimanded. "What are you doing? Those are the girl's dormitories…"

"Sorry, being a little feather-brained at the moment," he said nervously. Lily noticed how pale he was, as they heard voices from upstairs, his face became colorless. "I remember now," he said in a whisper that was just as nervous as before. "I left it in the library…" he left running out of the common room.

Lily tried calling him back but Sirius ignored her. She sank back into the armchair and stared off into space. When she recognized James' voice her eyes immediately began to seek him out. It took a moment for her brain to recognize what she was seeing. It was James and _Sirius_ coming down the stairs.

"Lily, what are you still doing here?" Sirius asked, his voice casual, nothing at all from the nervous squeak of minutes ago.

"N…nothing I was… I was waiting for J-James," she said feeling faint. James gave her a look and was by her side.

"You okay?" he whispered into her ear.

"What?" Sirius laughed. "Have you seen a murderer?"

"No," Lily said frowning. "James, I must… I just saw Sirius leave the common room." Lily heard how absurd that sounded. Her brain kept rejecting possibilities. Polyjuice Potion was banned in school grounds, and what possible reasons would a student have for using it, it was a painful experience. She knew spells that could change appearance but most were complex and banned from the school. Yet, Lily was sure that she has seen two Sirius'.

"Sweet," James whispered. "Are you sure, you know the possibilities are slim. You are stressed; you haven't been getting much sleep lately because you keep studying." James hugged her. "Come on, we'll go to the Three Broomsticks and I'll buy you lunch."

Lily nodded and gazed warily at Sirius.

Sirius laughed at Lily. "I seem to have an evil twin."

o.0.o

Lily did enjoy being in Hogsmeade, she enjoyed walking down the snowy road with James' arm around her. James had given Sirius a look, Sirius laughed as he left. He spent the time with her, pulling her into shops and buying her sweets and kissing her between alleyways, while laughing at some of the stories they told of their childhood.

Finally cold, they made their way to the Three Broomsticks and were in time to meet Sirius at the door. Inside, Peter was saving a table for them and was already nursing a bottle of butterbeer. Lily looked around for Lessa and Leidianna. She found Lessa sitting with Remus, both seemed to be enjoying each other's company, although Remus did look tired as of he had been ill for a long time.

His face was pale, but once he caught sight of Lily, James and Sirius the gleam of youth passed through his face. Lily saw the rapid hand movement that passed between James and Remus, saw the response from Remus and the quick relief that followed from Sirius and James. She didn't understand the signals that they used to communicate with each other; they were good at hiding them. Lily had barely realized that every shake of the wrist a twirl of the hand with the pinky sticking out were all signals!

James offered to go buy the drinks and lunch for Lily, after asking her what she wanted he went to the bar. Lily saw that as Sirius moved to the table; Sirius made a circle with his left hand and raised three fingers with his right. Lily saw Remus roll his eyes and Sirius smiled as he took a seat. Whatever Sirius had asked was answered. Lily was left with Peter. In seconds she had her laughing. She stayed with him until James returned and then Sirius joined them back at their table. Lily saw that as they held a conversation while she ate for her sake, The Marauder's held their own chat among themselves with their little signs.

She didn't let that bother her.

Why should it?

o.0.o

As sunset drew nearer, Hogwarts' students made their way back to the castle. Lily was walking with Peter and Lessa when Alex Chamber, Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team stepped in front of them. All three of them stopped as they watched Alex.

"What is it?" Lessa asked him.

Lily was very relaxed after spending the afternoon with her friends and having her body warmed by butterbeer that she was wholly unprepared by Alex's actions. The Ravenclaw pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her and pressed his mouth against hers. It clicked on her that it wasn't James kissing her and she pulled away. She tried to struggle but Alex's arms fastened around her.

It was sudden when he let go of her.

Lily barely saw James' fist come in contact with Alex's face.

"James, stop!" Lily shouted. Peter and Remus held Sirius from jumping in and helping James.

Both Alex and James rolled on the ground fists flying. Lessa held Lily back as she kept trying to interfere.

"Idiot! James! Stop!" Lily shouted. Alex groaned as James fist came in contact with his nose. Alex reached pulled James close enough to land a kick on the stomach. James doubled over in pain, and Alex threw himself on James, James slapped the ground with his hands and rolled away. Quickly he stood up and punched Alex again, and again, and again.

The crowd round them had thickened and though they all watched not one of them moved forward to help.

"_Desino Consito!_" Lily shouted. Both Alex and James froze in mid-action. Angrily Lily walked to Alex.

SLAP!

"That's for daring to kiss me, when you know I have a boyfriend!" She turned to James and slapped him, not as hard as she's slapped Alex. "That's because once again you acted like a bully! Thirty points will be taken from Ravenclaw and from Gryffindor for this performance of stupidity!" She looked around her to the people still watching. "Well, don't we have to return to the castle? Get to it." People left hurriedly. Lily removed the spell from Alex first giving him a chance to escape into the retreating crowd. She undid the spell on James and left angrily.

Lessa ran after her. "Come on, he was defending you," she said.

"I don't need him to defend me! The bloody idiot was jealous!"

Lessa laughed, and Lily relaxed she had hopped that James' had stopped doing performances like this.

"Let's find Leidianna," Lessa said.

"She has a date," Lily said remembering. They looked around the crowd of students and spotted Leidianna with a handsome young man. Lily elbowed Lessa and together they gawked at Leidianna's companion. Once Leidianna spotted them staring, she quickly said goody bye and left. Blushing a little Leidianna made her way to the castle with Lily and Lessa catcalling behind her.

It was dinner when Lily saw James again. He had gone to Madam Pomfrey to get rid of the bruises. Without hesitation he walked over and sat next to Lily. The whole table sat in silence as they waited for Lily to send him packing. Lily sat in silence ignoring his presence, until he leaned forward and whispered into her ear. Lily blushed red and couldn't help but laugh.

She turned to him concerned.

"Are you all right?"

James nodded. "He did me a pretty number."

"You were jealous, James," Lily said irritated.

"Yes," James nodded looking at her. "Yes, I was, and you can't blame me, sweet." He kissed her and Lily tried to push him away, but James pulled her in. He deepened the kiss when he felt her stop struggling and she gave in and kissed him back.

"All right, all right get a room!" Sirius shouted.



The days passed and snowstorm followed snowstorm. Lily felt sorry for the Quidditch teams. Eric Chant the captain for the Gryffindors ran a strict team, close to fanatical more than anything else. They practiced in every weather. The team though never complained, they followed him, and they were the best.

When the second match of the year came, the Gryffindor common room was silent with anticipation. A new storm was brewing. James reassured everyone that Chant had made the team fly in worse weather. Somewhat reassured the students headed for the Great Hall.

Fifteen minutes before the match the team stood up. James took Lily and kissed her, then hugging her he whispered, "_Make sure we win." _

Lily laughed. "You'll be the ones flying."

"Yes, but you will be the only witch working her magic." He lean over and as he traced her jaw he whispered, "I'll look for you." He stood up and left with the rest of the team. Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a smile of her face. Remus called her over and together with the rest of the Marauders, Lessa, and Leidianna they walked to the very top of the stands. It had already begun to snow and Lily had to perform a charm so that everyone remained warm. She had given the spell to James, hoping that he'd use it on the team. Tyler Zecher from Ravenclaw was acting as the commentator. He gave some announcements of people who had detention and were skipping.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" Zecher's voice boomed from the stands. The stands erupted in roars.

"Rooar! Gryffindor! ROOOAR! GRYFFINDOR! ROOAR! LIONS!

"Tudor, Eckmans, Potter, Banes, Handy, Van Vala, and Chant!" The scarlet team mounted their brooms, all except Eric Chant.

The Ravenclaws went wiled in cheering. "Now the Ravenclaw Quidditch team! Greene, Dugan, Robbens, Tiller, Dacao, Terrel, and Lewes!

"The captains shake hands, the snitch is released, the Bludgers are loose, and there goes the Quaffle!"

James dove in, so that the Quaffle was barely released when it was on his hands. Still flying low, James waited until he had two Ravenclaw Chasers behind him; James made a right angle and flew straight up. The three Chasers flew in a V formation.

Janet Tudor made the first goal, and then Baines, Gryffindor beater smacked the Bludger to the Ravenclaw Keeper, who dropped the Quaffle. Dinah Eckmans waited for it beneath; she passed it to James as he was smacked by a Bludger and dropped it. Ravenclaw's Chaser Dugan caught it and was passing the Quaffle when Janet Tudor intercepted it. Janet caught it and threw it to the goals where Dinah waited and scored.

The score was 50-40 before Gabrielle Van Vala caught the snitch.

Zecher was left groaning the results of the match.

After the match the students returned to the Common Room. The Marauder's disappeared for an hour. When they returned they had all sorts of sweets, food, and butterbeer.

"How did you do that?" Lily asked James.

"My secret sweet," he said. Lily laughed and took the butterbeer.

The party went deep into the night and would have continued if Professor MgGonagall had not entered and put things to an end. Groaning the students headed for their beds.



On Monday Lily along with all the other seventh years were pressed again to do work and study. All the students looked for any distractions as small as possible. Lily got a letter from home from her father. The first one she'd gotten all winter.

_Dear Lily,_

_I hope this letter finds you well. I hope you can forgive me for not writing as often as your mother might have. The reason for this letter is that your sister Petunia is now engaged. You may remember the fellow, a man by the name of Vernon Dursley. He has asked for her hand in marriage and she has consented. She is the happiest I have seen her. The date of their wedding is yet to be chosen, but it is my belief that it will be soon. _

_With Love_

_Cosimo Evans_

_Father_

'_So,'_ Lily thought. '_Petunia is engaged.'_ Lily had already expected it. Her father had been crying when he wrote the letter, she folded it and decided to write back to Petunia and congratulate her. Lily opened the inkbottle and wrote _Dear Petunia_ when James sneaked up behind her and the inkbottle spilled over the parchment.

"James!" Lily frowned at him.

"Sorry, sweet," he pulled one strand of hair out.

"James!" Lily yelped.

"Watch!" he shook the hair and in his hand lay a white lily.

Lily took it as James sat in the sofa and pulled her closer to him. Lily laid her head in his lap.

"Petunia's getting married."

James whistled softly, his fingers in her hair. "To that bloke – Dursley?"

"Yeah," Lily said.

"Are you okay?"

"My dad," Lily said burying her face in his shirt. They stayed silent for minutes.

"He'll be fine," James said after a while. "Come on, sweet; let's go get some dinner before Padfoot eats the silverware."

Lily laughed.

"Let me finish writing the letter for Petunia. It will only take one minute. Sirius won't finish half of them in that time."

"True," he said. "I've gotta get something. Wait for me."

Lily went to her dormitory to grab a new inkbottle.

She was coming back when she heard voices in the common room. Lily slowed down to give them some privacy. She was on the last three stairs when she heard her name.

"You really think that lily s playing with James and Sirius?"

"Of course! Haven't you noticed that when James isn't around she is off with Sirius?"

"I don't think so, Lily wouldn't do that."

"Trust me; she is playing with them both."

"How can you say that? Lily is our friend!"

"Lessa, the only reason you are defending her is because you think she isn't after Remus. But I think she is."

"WHAT!"

"I told you, we should have known sooner, all Muggleborns are like that. Never satisfied with one man –"

"You are right; we better keep an eye on her. Poor James…"

Lily stepped down and stared at Lessa and Leidianna, the people who for the last seven years she had called friends. Lily was angry, she was consumed with it and it gained new heights with every second, her eyes usually a cool green were darker and hard with anger. Lily's small body shook and without so much of a warning she slapped Lessa.

Lessa gasped and began to cry. Lily's nails left a mark and she could see Lessa's face was already reddening where Lily had hit her.

Lily turned to Leidianna, who took her wand out, but a bit too slow. Lily launched herself at her, ripped the wand from her, and threw it to the other side of the room.

"Let me show you a bit of Muggle fighting!" Lily hissed. Leidianna expected a slap, but Lily beyond her usual calmness, made her hand into a fist and punched the girl. Her fist made contact with her nose. Leidianna cried out in pain and the shouts became shriller when she saw the blood.

Lily didn't stop; she pushed Leidianna to the floor and pinned her with her legs, before punching her on the right eye.

The screams got James' attention, and he came tearing down the stairs. Lily was screaming at Leidianna and Lessa. James ran and tried to pull Lily off. Leidianna was trashed, with blood down her front and her right eye was bloodshot.

"Well, it's true!" Leidianna shouted. "You are nothing more than a slut!" With new rage Lily threw herself at Leidianna. James grabbed her by the waist.

"Let me go!" she screamed. She was to strong for James who wanted to hold her without hurting her. James managed to get his wand out and point it to Lessa.

_"Stupefy_!" he shouted. Lessa slumped to the ground.

"You are nothing more than a Mudblood slut!" Leidianna shouted,

Lily whose hands were free and James held her with only one arm managed to knock the air out of him. James doubled over gasping and let go of her. Lily wrestled his wand from her his hand and pointed it to Leidianna.

Lily took some satisfaction in knowing that Leidianna was bloody and her robes were torn.

"MUDBLOOD SLUT! YOU AND YOUR MOTHER!" Leidianna hollered.

"_Sectumsempra!"_ Lily shouted her wand on Leidianna. Lily watched as deep wounds appeared in Leidianna's body, as blood was spluttered everywhere. James shoved her away and took his wand back. He managed to stop the curse and to clean up. Leidianna slumped to the ground unconscious. He turned to Lily who was trashing angrily. Unnerved by her temper James quickly performed a Cheering Charm. Lily began to smile; James got off her and helped her up.

"Let's go see Hagrid," he told her. Without waiting for her response he pulled her up behind him. They were down the Great Hall when James met Sirius.

"Go to the kitchens, grab dinner for two, and take it to Hagrid's," James said still clutching his stomach.

Sirius looked at James' bleeding lip and didn't say anything.

"I'll meet you there with Moony and Wormtail in a few," he said and rushed away.

o.0.o

… TBC …


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

James took Lily to Hagrid's cabin gasping. Lily had been trying to make a snowman and it had been just as hard to get her away from it, as it has been to get her away from Leidianna. By the time they got to the door Sirius and Remus had caught up. James knocked on the door impatiently but no one answered.

"He is still at dinner," Remus said.

"We don't have time to wait for him," James said impatiently. "_Alohomora!" _The door opened and all four of them jumped inside. Fang began to lick them playfully. "Not now, Fang," James ordered, watching Lily.

Lily sat down on one of Hagrid's armchairs and began to tell them a funny story.

"What's wrong with her?" Sirius asked.

"Cheering Charm," James answered looking for something to put in his bloody nose.

"Well, you did it wrong," Sirius commented,

"Yeah, well I didn't have time to get it right!" James snapped.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"Nothing!"

Remus moved toward Lily and removed the charm. Within seconds Lily was back to normal with her temper and memory.

"So what happened?" Remus asked looking at Lily.

"I'll tell you," James said with sarcasm, He told them what he had seen and how Lily has used the Sectumsempra curse on Leidianna.

"What?" Remus asked looking at Lily.

"I'm telling you mate, she is strong. I'd hate to get in a fight with her that didn't involve wands," James whispered his nose pointing at the ceiling.

Remus was still in shock that the Head Girl had used one of the most dangerous curses that were flying around the school.

"So what made you snap?" Sirius asked.

"She called me a slut, a mudblood slut. She made it sound like that if I went out with James I got all the Marauders. Both Lessa and Leidianna, my so-called friends! Muggles, according to them,, can't keep their hands off other men."

Remus coughed uncomfortably.

"Lily, we know that's not true. Besides James here would make sure to correct that, right Prongs. I mean you remember poor Alex Chambers," Sirius shook his head.

Lily shook in anger.

"It's not what they said, it's who said it." Lily lowered her head at the table, taking deep breaths.

James stood up and dragged his chair next to Lily. They stood silent for a few minutes, James holding Lily. James kept whispering in her ear and Lily nodded. After a while both of them were kissing and hugging.

"Sirius," Remus said after staring at Lily and James.

"Hmmm."

"Do you think they are in love?"

"Who?"

"Romeo and Juliet," Remus said sarcastically. "Them you fool, Lily and James!"

Sirius turned to Lily and James who were sitting; Lily's head in James shoulders, James playing with her hair.

"We are eighteen, Remus. It's not like they are planning to get married!" Sirius whispered.

"Yeah? What if I were to ask you, who you thought would be most likely to stay together after we leave Hogwarts – you would say…?"

"Easy, Lily and James."

"So, you think that they are in love?"

Sirius stared at Lily and James.

"Yeah, they are in love."

"Did you lot bring any dinner, we are starving." Lily said smiling.

"Yes, the elves packed you something, and they say hi to you James."

They ignored Sirius as they sat on the table talking quietly. Remus and Sirius sat looking trying to digest the new information.

An hour later someone knocked on the door. Sirius went to open it to find Hagrid and Peter.

"Oh, it's you, hi Hagrid," he said for all as of he was the owner of the small hut.

"Yeah, I live 'ere don't I?" He asked as Fang barked. "What are you lot doing here? Not that I mind."

Remus explained about Lily cursing Leidianna with a spell that had not been authorized by the Ministry of Magic and that the spell, had James not gone ahead and stopped it would have killed Leidianna.

If Remus was shocked, Hagrid hit the roof.

"Are you mad?" he shouted. "You could be spending the rest of your life in Azkaban. You're lucky James found you!"

"Yeah, well I almost got killed for my pains," James said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"You nearly killed me when you hit me," James said avoiding her eyes so she wouldn't see him smirking. Remus and Sirius snorted.

"Why didn't you say something?" Lily asked, still not seeing James grinning.

"Oh, I dunno maybe I didn't want to complain that it hurt…"

"Because a _girl _hit you?"

"No, because –"

Someone knocked on the door, James looked at his watch, and it was midnight. He cursed heatedly.

"Hagrid you might get in trouble- we are supposed to be in the castle."

The knocking continued, followed by small taps at the window. Lily the closest to the window turned to face it.

Someone looked back in.

Lily tried to scream, her throat tightened in fright. Behind the glass, staring at her was he most horrible and hated face seen.

White, terribly white with glowing red eyes and slits for a nose, like a snake.

Lily unable to make a sound willed her body to back away. She tripped over a chair as Hagrid opened the door.

Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"I would like a word with Ms. Evans," he spoke in his usual tone – calm.

The Marauders began to leave but Dumbledore made them sit. "Unless Ms. Evans wants you to leave," he said looking at Lily. Lily shook her head and they took their seats.

"I am sorry professor, I shouldn't have used my fists to hit Leidianna," Lily said quickly.

"I believe you were justly provoked. As for using you fists I am glad if the alternative would have gotten you in trouble."

Sirius laughed. Dumbledore turned his face to him and smiled.

"You do know the seriousness of this, I hope Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said. "The Ministry has already sent me in acknowledgement that a file is already made for you for your use of an illegal spell."

Lily nodded.

There was another knock on the door. James got up and opened it. Professor MgGonagall stalked inside, furious.

"I'll let Professor MgGonagall carry out the punishment."

"Please don't," Lily pleaded. Dumbledore smiled.

"I am _surprised_ at you, Evans! In all my _life_ I have never I had never seen such _behavior_ from a Gryffindor or from any other student in the _school's history_. Those Marauders that you so persecute Ms. Evans, even they have known where to draw the line!"

"Hey!" Sirius said standing up. "The Marauders are legendary! They are professionals!"

"Sit down you fool!" Remus whispered grabbing the back of Sirius' robes and pulling him down. MgGonagall chose to ignore this.

"Your behavior disgusts me, Evans. Another mistake like this, Ms Evans and the Head Girl badge will be removed. For now, all I will give you is restriction to the grounds. Hogsmeade trips will be canceled for the rest of the year and seventy five points will be removed form Gryffindor."

"She might as well remove a hundred," murmured Sirius,

"Don't tempt me Mr. Black!" She rounded on James. "The punishment also includes you Mr. Potter. And the warning about your badge."

"_What_?" James shouted standing up. "Unbelievable! I stop her from going to Azkaban and I get in trouble. Do something wrong and first they have to catch you!" The professor glared at him her lips going thinner every second. "So, so, so!"

"As for you Rubeus, I would expect you to have more sense then to keep students in here!"

"Wait!" Lily said. "Hagrid was at dinner when we came! And besides if I had stayed in the castle the consequences would have been worse."

"I hope that I have made myself clear," she said looking at Lily. "Gather your things and return to the castle."

"Yes, Professor," Lily said,

Dumbledore and MgGonagall left and everyone sighed in relief.

"Well, we better go back to the castle," Remus said.

Sirius and Remus let Lily and James and Peter got first. Quietly they were furiously whispering to each other,

The grounds were dark and chilly. Lily felt jumpy once she remembered the face that she had seen in the window. Unconsciously she tightened her grip on James' hand.

James surprised by Lily's sudden need of support turned to face her. Her face was deadly pale and he could tell she was frightened.

"What's wrong?" James asked quietly so that the rest of the Marauders could not hear.

"Back in Hagrid's hut, when Dumbledore was knocking I saw, I saw Voldemort's face by the window."

James' grip tightened around her hand. Lily had to elbow him to let go.

"Remember what Madam Pomfrey said," James reminded her. "You will be suffering from hallucinations for a couple of weeks."

Lily nodded and let out a shuddering breath.

"No moon today," Sirius said looking up.

"Yes there is," Lily said, searching the skies. "It's supposed to be a full moon. Ah yes, you see? It was being covered by the clouds. They are shifting now."

Lily heard noises behind her but before she could turn around James threw himself on top of her. Mouthfuls of snow went into her mouth and robes.

"Lily, run toward the castle! Go now!"

Lily got up and quickly run as fast as she could. In the dark she noticed that she was heading away from the castle's shimmering lights and plunging into the shadows of the night.

She sensed it rather then heard it. Something was chasing her, something on four legs and running much faster than she could. Lily turned around, still running, trying to catch a glimpse of her pursuer. In the darkness she only saw two red eyes, she turned again, and something smashed into the left side of her face.

She hit the ground and stayed down. From nearby she heard snarls and snapping of jaws. The beast was getting closer, getting ready to pounce. Lily rolled away, staying as close to the ground as possible. The beast pounced, Lily stayed frozen in place.

Out of nowhere a huge bear-like dog bounded forward, taking the beast out of its planned path. The dog seized the beast around the neck and squeezed.

Lily tried to keep her eyes open, wanted to know what was attacking her and who was defending her. Lily felt the pain in her face, the darkness pressed close on her. She gave in and lay on the ground, her breathing faint.

She felt something lurk around her face; slowly she opened her eyes to see a rat. It climbed over her and scurried away. The rat must have done something since the fighting stopped. Lily fighting the darkness mustered her strength and heaved herself up.

The bear-like dog was entering a gap in the trunk of a tree. Next to her and looking down at her with familiarity was a dazzling white animal Lily couldn't identify. She fainted.

"Is she safe?"

"Yes, how is she?"

"Loosing a lot of blood."

Lily opened her eyes to find James and Sirius bending over her, behind them was a tall man, with a black cloak that flirted with the ground. The hood was up, but since he looked down at Lily, she couldn't mistake the face.

White, gaunt, and scarlet eyes stared down at her. The same face from the window.

Lily fainted again.

She heard the cold and laughter from far away.



Lily woke up and was surprised to find herself in her dormitory. Looking around her, Lily saw Lessa and Leidianna. Looking out the window, she knew it was late; the moon was up and full. Her wristwatch confirmed it by telling her it was two in the morning.

Lily sighed and fell back asleep.

She woke up at dawn and looked around her again, this time to find herself alone in the dormitory. The beds around her were made. Sighing she walked to the nearest mirror, she had bandages around the left side of her face.

Carefully she removed them. Whatever damage she had had was now gone. She quickly showered and dresses. She was at the foot of the stairs when she realized she didn't have any of her books.

The day moved on, Lily ignored most of the classes. The professors barely called on her. She had mastered the trick of paying attention while managing to daydream when she wanted. Later on she would be able to recall the entire lesson.

She skipped breakfast, lunch and dinner and found herself sometime at night in the kitchens with Nena, an elf.

Lily was treated like royalty when they found out her name, and hence known as James Potter's girlfriend. She spent the rest of the time trying to tune out the elves' praise for James.

"No wonder the man has a big head," Lily said under her breath.

In the days that passed The Marauders acted as if nothing was wrong. Lily didn't push for answers. She played their game, being cheerful around them. All of them noticed that things between Lessa, Leidianna, and Lily weren't improving. Both Lessa and Leidianna ignored Lily in class, in corridors, and in the dormitory. Lilly had gotten of sleeping in the Head Dormitory.

James and Sirius both offered to talk to Leidianna. Lily declined both times. It was Remus that changed her mind.

"Come on Lily, you know you miss them," Remus said. "I know you enjoy being with us, but every chick needs to have mates – girl mates."

Lily sighed and looked away.

"Let me or Sirius talk to Leidianna. Lessa for her part believed me."

Lily looked up.

"Really?"

Remus nodded.

"But she's still mad at you and how you lost control with Leidianna. She says that unless you apologize she wasn't speaking to you."

Lilly clenched her jaw and remained silent/

"I'll go find Sirius," Remus said.

So after Transfiguration Sirius cornered Leidianna, while Lily waited for him outside.

"I need to talk to you," Sirius said.

"About what?" she asked, looking away.

"What you said about Lily and me."

"Oh-"

"It's not true. It's a fundamental truth Leidianna. James likes Lily, Lily hates James, James likes Lily, Lily hits James, James likes Lily, and Lily likes James. James hits any guy who even looks at Lily. Sirius likes Lily, as a friend, and Lily likes us as friends."

"I'm terribly sorry about what I said about you," Leidianna began.

"But not what you said about Lily," Sirius interrupted.

"I'll take your word for it that she is not fooling around with you lot."

"Leidianna is simple- I- DON'T- LIKE-LILY- I'm not into redheads." Sirius said angrily

"And are you sure Lily got that message?"

"Yes, I do. She would never cheat on James."

"Er- how can you be sure?"

"Because if she didn't know, now she does."

"How?" Leidianna asked testily.

"She has been listening the whole time," Sirius said bitterly going after Lily.




	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Some weeks into February and the Marauders began to disappear again. This time Lily didn't stay up late. She knew they were gone though. She would find scratches and some bruises over them. Again Lily wad determined not to mention anything. James would be the one to tell her.

On the particular night Lily was in the Head Room. It was late and she couldn't sleep. She was about to go Madam Pomfrey for a sleeping potion, when the Marauders walked in. Lily looked at her watch; it was early-not even midnight.

She noticed that Remus again wasn't with them.

James' nose was bleeding and he had scratches running on the back of his neck. Sirius had scratches on his cheek. Lily didn't say anything instead she went to the cupboard and took out murlap essence and some dried bandages. Quietly she put them on the table.

"Night," she told them.

She was opening the door when Peter came in. He seemed fine and Lily left.

She was frustrated. Her wand in her hand, Lily picked her robes and ran. She was upstairs, down corridors until she was lost. Breathing hard she opened door after door exploring. She wasn't sure what she was looking for. She knew that being in the same room with James would make her temper rise. Lily was known for red-headed temper and it wasn't pretty.

A door caught her eye. Lily was sure she had never spotted that door in seven years. The door was marble white for one with golden handles to pull the door open.

Curious Lily opened the door, to be struck dumb by what she saw.

The room was the size of an average classroom, but that was where all other similarities ended. The room was set out as a theater. The floor leading to the stage was carpeted in a rich red. The walls were marbled in green emerald. A chandelier hanged from the center of the ceiling, it was at that moment that Lily recognized the place. The roof was painted with all sorts of steps and positions for ballet.

Lily smiled. She had been eleven the last time she had been to the theater. She moved toward the stage and found a turntable and all sorts of music records. Lily looked through until she found one she knew. The room held a changing room and it took an effort in her part to stop from squealing in happiness when she saw the outfits, the ribbons the slippers!

She chose the green outfit and quickly changed, when she got to the turntable she set the record to play. Immediately the chandelier dimmed and soft light focused on Lily. Nervous, she took a deep breath. When the song began to play she was ready.

_ Stop, glide, step. Now twirl, jump, and splits, land on toes and back to gliding. Step, twirl away from arms, bend to the knee and jump, smooth landing… _

She stopped telling her body to move. She focused on the song, the melody, the message. It was then that Lily realized her mistake. Her choice of music was wrong. Lily and her mother used to dance to that song it was theirs only. Her mother had taught it to Lily and Lily had promised never to dance it alone.

She didn't falter in her step as she reflected. She was alone now.

_ Alone…with mother dead! The only one who understood my passion for school, for magic, for dancing was her mother. The mother, who had made Lily the biggest chocolate cake for her return home when she was eleven, was dead. The one who had made her practice hours and hours to Petunia's piano playing, that woman was dead. Now there was nothing holding her together with Petunia. Mum was the only one keeping us together. Father understood that we were different and he tried to separate us. _

Her thoughts turned to James and she didn't believe the transformation her life had made with the boys. She had gone from hating James, and now the Marauders were part of her family, all in a few months. Lily smiled in remembrance of their fights. James never raised his wand to curse her, only to disable her, or stop her. He had gone as far as putting a memory charm on her. She had hated him. He represented everything that she hated in a person.

He was arrogant, selfish, a liar, a prankster, a bully, he didn't respect authority, or privacy, or other human beings, he didn't hold anything sacred, above all he had the charm to just get out of trouble. Lily had fallen for him, flaws, and all. She had fallen for his charm and good looks. She loved his laugh, his smile, the fact that she made him happy. The way his eyes changed color and deepened when he saw her. She had fallen for the way he cocked his head when he was being arrogant. She had especially fallen for the way his hand went through his hair and messed it up.

She liked the way he thought and how he reacted when Lily said something argumentative. He was great coming for ways for Lily to have a ceremony for her mother, trying to find a way to convince Lessa and Leidianna that they were wrong. Her mother had looked at her friends and said that they would stay true, and they hadn't waited until Lily had stopped grieving before insulting her.

Her mother.

She had laughed at Lily. _"I'll be there don't worry," her mother had said. "I'll see you leave Hogwarts and I'll see you being handed down the isle!"_

_ "Promise?" Lily had asked many times._

_ "I promise." _

_ 'Now she never will,_' Lily thought. She let the tears fall; she had been unaware of them. Her body was growing hot from the exercise, her heartbeat was increasing, and she still danced.

_ Lessa and Leidianna believe me to be a Mudblood. The people I have trusted for seven years were ready to believe the worst of her'_ Lily smiled bitterly: the people she had expected to treat her so turned to be the more valuable than her friends did.

Now the only person she trusted above all was James Potter.

It rattled her sense as she realized that James did not trust her, the thought hit hard and true. She stumbled and fell. For the first time in years Lily pulled her knees to her chest hugged them to her body and sobbed. She had stopped having her hysterical cries years ago. Now Lily wept. She let her hair fall around her face and let the tears splash the stage floor.

"Well, James did say you were inspiring when you danced."

Lily looked up, looking for the speaker. "Sirius, what are you doing here?" She asked wiping her face.

"I got tired of being with the guys and so decided to follow you."

"Please go away," she pleaded.

"Not unless you tell me what is the matter?"

"Nothing," Lily said standing up and heading for the door.

Sirius held her by the arm. "I've known you long enough Lily to know that it never sis nothing," he looked at her. "For seven years I've never seen you this distraught. Not when you failed at something or when you were embarrassed by one of us." Lily scowled. "Not even when James told Wo- told the rat to crawl into your bowl."

"He _told_ the rat? What do you mean he _told _the rat?"

"You know James," he said avoiding the question and Lily's questioning gaze. "Even when your mother died, James said that you held yourself together. When Lessa and Leidianna called you a – a …"

"A slut," Lily finished.

"Yeah, that, you were angry at what they had said about your mother, which is understandable since she just died, but otherwise you aren't the average hysterical girl."

"What's the point, Sirius?"

"My point is that you are crying so hard that it must be because of something bigger than nothing. What is it?" he asked kindly.

Lily sighed and crumpled to the ground, Sirius followed suit.

"I'm in a well, Sirius. I was looking inside and I fell. I fell in deep and there are no stairs to climb back out. I'm not scared of being there, but that someone will build them for me."

"You are talking about James." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I am scared." Lily said quietly.

"That he will break up with you?" he asked.

"No, but that I don't, I won't mean anything to him."

"Look, I know James and James may be a flirt and an idiot but when he is with someone he respects that person, he doesn't fool around, he cares for that person," Sirius said truthfully. "And Lily if there is one person that means anything to James it's you. You with your stubbornness and your long resistance to his damn charm it's what he loves."

"He doesn't trust me," she said. "That's a fact." Sirius remained silent.

"I've noticed that Remus doesn't go out in your outing," Lily said carefully watching Sirius for a reaction. Sirius faced Lily searching to see how much she knew.

"Don't ask me what Remus does with his time, Lily. It's not for me to tell."

"Fine, tell me about Padfoot."

Sirius shook his head with a smile. "What's there to tell?"

"Come on Sirius, you are the dog."

Sirius faced Lily and held her gaze, neither backed down. Lily stared back determined.

"I'm an Animagus," Sirius said at last.

He showed her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

On the weeks to come Sirius became close to Lily as Peter, once he confessed he was Wormtail. Neither of them told her past that. What they did remained a secret. They apologized but they had promised.

James remained aloof. He neither told her what he was doing nor touched the subject with her. He remained more concerned about keeping Lily on the dark. He spent hours practicing with the Quidditch team, to prove his point. Lily never asked.

Lily had time to write her letter to Petunia congratulating her and Vernon. She made the letter as happy as she could and gave it to Ella.

It was a week later that Lily got a response from home. She was surprise as Petunia had sent her a bulkier package. Lily opened it.

_March 3_

_Dear Lily,_

_Thank you for the letter and your kind regards. Vernon also thanks you. _

_My father seemed to think me of being too happy with Vernon. It is my belief that his past actions considering to stop me from finally enjoying life. The last letter you received from father will be your last. On the 25 of February Dayton Hospital gave me a call that he had crashed on his way home. He was drunk, as he had been of late since her death. He stayed in the hospital for a few days in a comma. He came out of the comma long enough to tell me that he wanted you to know that he loved you. Seconds later he died._

_His funeral was the same day. You are not expected to come home._

_His will is to be read on July 12. You are to attend._

_Petunia_

_P.S. The Swan has died._

Quietly Lily opened the second packet. Inside she found a black envelope with the invitation to Cosmo Evans funeral.

Lily put the card back in the envelope. There was still a small book. Lily knew what it was. She opened it to find the smiling faces of her family. Lily cursed as she felt her eyes water.

James sitting next to her pushed away his breakfast and picked the letter. The Marauders had gotten silent and James read the letter. Lily got up and left the Great Hall. Shaking his head at Remus, Sirius and Peter, James followed Lily. Together they wend to the Head Room.

Inside Lily went and sat by the fire. Before Lily knew what was going on she was rocking back and forth crying.

"Papa," Lily cried. "Dammit! Damn all of this!" James watched her until she had calmed down. Slowly he sat down next to her.

"Tell me about the book?" he said.

Lily opened it and told him the story that laid behind every picture. James listened never interrupting.

When they got to the last picture, Lily felt her heart being torn apart. It was the only picture she had of her parents wedding. Lily ripped the picture from the book. Behind it was a swan, made of fifty diamonds all different sizes. She pocketed it and gave the book a hug.

James watched puzzled then confused as Lily threw the book into the fire.

Together they watched it burn from blue then purple orange and finally to ash as the flames consumed it.

Neither of them went to class that day. Lily fell asleep in James' lap and after a while so did he. Lily woke up a while later, James holding her. She smiled and put her head in his chest in a few seconds she was asleep again.

They were awoken again by the tapping in the window. Lily yawned and put her hair in a band away from her face. James had gotten up and opened the window to let Ella inside the room.

Ella recognized James, flew to his arm, and let him carry her to Lily. Lily took her owl and untied the package from its leg.

The package had no note. Lily opened it and gasped. James turned to lily. Lily took James' wand from the near table and put the strongest shield to contain magic around the box.

James peered inside and Lily saw how his muscles around his mouth had clinched.

"James?" Lily said.

"Go, take it to Madam Pomfrey. I'll go get us some lunch." James helped her up and held her tight for a long time. "Be careful Lily, come back here please."

Lily smiled and made herself more comfortable in his arms.

"Only if you promise to be here when I come back," James titled her head so that she was starring at him. He kissed her and Lily responded pulling him closer to her wanting him never to stop. Her hands moved to his hair. Her fingers went through his hair. It was Ella's screech that made them part.

James rested his head on her forehead.

"Go to Madam Pomfrey. She will most likely send you to Dumbledore. I'll be here when you come back."

Lily nodded and headed out the door with the box that held another Washambella.

"Did you touch it? Madam Pomfrey asked.

"No, I saw it and put the shield." Madam Pomfrey sighed.

"Dumbledore wants to talk to you."

Lily left the nurse to dispose of the rose and went to the Headmaster's office. Lily walked inside the circular office to find that Dumbledore wasn't around.

Few of the portraits were awake and those who were made it their jurisdiction to entertain Lily until Dumbledore's return. As a result when Dumbledore walked in Lily was laughing along with a few dead headmasters and headmistresses on the current headmaster's chair and pivoting around.

When she noticed he was there Lily quickly stood up and walked away from the chair blushing.

He smiled at Lily and sat behind his desk. The tips of his fingers touched gently as he watched Lily over his hands waiting.

"I received another Washambella professor. It came with my owl Ella. There was a charm on the box." Lily said frowning.

"Were you able to recognize it?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, it was fleeting. But it was strong and very advanced magic."

"When did you receive it?"

"A few minutes ago."

"During class?"

Lily looked away for the first time. She stared at the Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix.

"No I didn't go to classes."

"May I inquire why?"

Lily's eyes hardened and her face became blank.

"I received a letter that my dad died two days ago in a car crash."

Dumbledore sighed. "Your mother died this September? And it is believed she was a victim of Voldemort?"

Lily nodded.

"Strange I didn't see anything about it in the papers."

Lily snorted.

"Petunia probably hushed it up. She hates anything that has to do with magic."

"No mortal can escape death," Dumbledore said. "We are cursed to die the moment we are born."

Lily nodded.

"My mother used to say, "to a well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"

Dumbledore looked up and smiled.

"I am already doing some research on who would have the power to send the Roses to you."

Lily nodded, murmured a thank you and left.

…o0o…

During the month of March, the only other person looking worse for wear was Remus. Lily would have fallen into a well of melancholy, if it hadn't been for James.

After the third Quidditch match where Gryffindor came close to loosing, James left the party in honor of the team.

Lily was sneaked out of the castle and into the village. Against Professor McGonagall's punishment they spent the afternoon walking in and out of shops and sneaking behind alleys were James would kiss her senseless. They only separated long enough to breath before James lips were once again seeking Lily's.

"By Morgana," James said panting. "I'll never seem to get enough of you." He pulled her away from behind the shop and back to the busy street. He looked at Lily and laughed.

"What?" Lily asked.

He touched her lips that were red and swollen from his kisses. Her hair was in disarray from were James had clung to.

"You don't look so fresh yourself," Lily accused. Holding her by the shoulders they continued down the street.

It was in a jewelry store 'Enchantment' that James found a bracelet for Lily. While Lily was entertained looking at other cases James looked at the bracelet. It was made of ivory set with small diamonds. What had gotten James' attention had been the inscription in the window.

"_Tells the feelings of loved ones_

_from sadness, to anger, to love, and if it happens to hate"_

James chuckled to himself and told the woman to wrap it for him.

The woman opposed to it saying that she doubted James had a thousand galleons with him.

James sighed in irritation for the clerk's ignorance. Most of the shopkeepers knew he was a Potter and most knew to bill the expense to his father. It got worse as Lily came over to se what James was getting so intense about.

James steered Lily away and turned to the woman. "Could you please get Mrs. Greene?" The woman was about to protest, but thought better about it. Glaring at James she left

While they waited James toured the store with Lily. They were on a corner of the store; Lily was trying to find a chain for the swan, when James saw Mrs. Greene coming through to the shop. The woman pointed at James and from the looks of her began to accuse James.

James left Lily to go to Mrs. Greene.

"Mr. Potter," was Mrs. Greene's greeting. "It has been a while since I last saw you!" She smiled warmly. "Did your mother like her birthday present?"

James smiled, "Yes, she did."

"What can I help you with today?"

"I was here to buy your bracelet, the one in the counter. It's for someone very special," he said turning to look at Lily.

Mrs. Greene followed his gaze, and laughed.

"No problem, Janine, why don't you wrap this for Mr. Potter."

James watched as Janine gaped at him.

"I had hard time making her believe that I was a Potter.

Mrs. Greene laughed, "I should have warned her."

By the time Lily had returned, the packaged was wrapped and in James' pocket. He paid for Lily's chain and together they left.

"Come on," James said as it began to rain. Let's go to the Three Broomstick for some dinner."

They went inside and had some hot stew and butterbeer. While they ate people came to seat at their table to talk to James.

Lily was surprised to find him aware of many things outside of the castle. He spoke for his father, Neal Potter, who was working for the Ministry of Magic as a close member of the Minister's cabinet. James presented Lily as his girlfriend to anyone who sat in their table. Before long she found herself joining the conversation and having heated debates.

It was late when they decided to return to the castle. Still debating against each other whether the Aurors had any right to use the Unforgivable Curses against the dark wizards.

"It doesn't make us any better for it, James. If they use those curses we will have sunk as low as them."

James shook his head.

"A lot of Aurors are dying, Sweet. Not many heroes are rising to help out and catch them. They need all the help they can get. Most of them don't use them until a last resort."

"Still— "

James stopped her. "I don't want to argue about it. You won't change the mind of Bartimaeus Crouch."

Lily scowled and James laughed.

"Here I have something for you." He took the package from his pocket and handed it to her.

"No pranks James Potter!" Lily said looking fiercely at him.

"It's not a prank."

Lily opened the box and took out the bracelet. Without a word she gave it to James and stuck her wrist out.

Grinning James put it on Lily. When he heard a click the bracelet's diamonds turned on each of them glowing a different color. He heard Lily gasp. There were six different diamonds. Green, gray, white, blue, purple, and red, were radiating from it. Lily and James watched, Lily with surprised James with curiosity wondering what color the bracelet would exhibit at the end.

He had read the paper. Green represented fierce anger, gray represented hate, especially towards the giver of the bracelet. Blue was sadness, red happiness and purple jealousy. Love was when the diamonds turned pure white.

"What do the colors mean?" Lily asked. James shrugged. He smiled when he saw the bracelet end in purely white.

"Come on, before McGonagall finds us missing," James whispered holding her to him.


	10. Chapter 10

This is a short one! Sorry.

Chapter 10

"_Come on, before McGonagall finds us missing," James whispered holding her to him._

…o0o…

As the end of March approached Lily sought Sirius' advice. James' nineteen birthday was nearing and Lily has no idea what to give to him. He had been showering her with small gifts for the last few weeks.

"Well, he could do with a new haircut," Sirius said when Lily asked him.

"Sirius!"

"Fine! How about if we throw him a party?"

"A surprise party?" Lily asked.

"Sure."

"Here? In the Common Room?"

Sirius shook his head. "I was thinking more about the Room of Requirement."

"What's that?" Lily asked.

"The room I caught you dancing in?"

"That sounds fine. We'll have to ask permission from McGonagall."

"Who do we invite?"

"The Quidditch teams, the people from Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindors fifteen and up. I think there are also some Slytherins that James likes…"

"Yeah, he does," Sirius nodded. "I'll take care of that."

Remus and Peter approached them while they were still working on the invitations. At once they agreed to help out with the food and ask for the elves' assistance. Lily had to confront their Head of House and ask permission to use the room. Together they needed a way to lure James into the room.

Three fingers pointed at Lily.

"Why me?" she asked.

"You are his weakness," Peter smiled.

"Yeah, he can never resist your pretty face," Sirius said pulling at Lily's cheeks. Lily slapped his hands away.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Together they came up with a plan.

The next morning, Lily was late for breakfast. Neither Peter nor Remus were in class, but Sirius lied to both James and the Professor until both parties were satisfied. Lily ignored James.

At first James tried to get her attention but seeing how Lily was consciously ignoring him, he shrugged and left her alone. While James left to practice, Lily pleaded with Professor McGonagall; she managed to get permission to host the party and had until three in the morning to evacuate. Meanwhile Lily had another problem; she was trying her hardest not to panic if her birthday present for James didn't arrive in time.

She followed the plan to the letter and headed for the stands in the Quidditch field to watch the Gryffindor team practice. Sirius had asked her to remain unseen and Lily did her best. Nevertheless, as soon as James was airborne he immediately turned and found Lily. There has been no searching for her; he had known where Lily was. He nodded in her direction, and then turned to the chasers and their drills.

Since their second year, Lily was used to seeing James on a broom and every time he flew Lily had been surprised by how well he manipulated the air. He was a thrill-seeker, diving so low, flirting with the ground that McGonagall had given him detention for putting his life at risk.

It was late when Lily made her way to the field where James had landed. She jogged quietly towards him and wrapped her around his eyes. James grabbed her hands and twirled her so that she faced him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked nibbling her bottom lip.

"I saw you wanted to talk to me during class. So, I came."

"I thought you were angry at me. Was I wrong?"

Lily nodded. "You scared me with those dives. Professor McGonagall threatened you with a month of detention after the last match."

James laughed. "She always does, sweet. It is not that bad. I like to dive," he said his broom still over his shoulder.

"Let me try then," Lily said grabbing his broom.

"Do you know how to fly?" James asked suddenly tense.

"Yeah, we learned remember. I just haven't tried since I was eleven. You'll have to shout out advice."

"Fine."

Lily mounted and kicked hard from the ground. She flew until se was level with the seventh floor. She made a sharp turn and looked down at James.

"Now what?" she yelled. She was enjoying being so high up, she had forgotten how enjoyable it was to be airborne. James was impressed. Lily flew well, better than Dinah one of the team's chasers.

So, while James admired Lily's flying Lily kept an eye on the windows of the castle waiting for the signal. She did some turns, shallow dives, and a couple of loops de loops. She was going to try the Wronski Feint when she saw white sparks from the seventh floor.

"James!" lily shouted horrified. "James!" Lily shouted louder as the broom rose higher and higher. "James do something!"

James stood rooted to the ground, unable to move as his heart sank. He saw the broom dive in a perfect vertical line and come close to one foot off the ground when it rose again, trying to buck lily off. Lily let out a wordless scream and tried to make the broom descend. Frantically she looked around and saw the green sparks. The broom went into another dive, three feet from the ground Lily threw herself off from the bucking broomstick.

"Lily? Lily are you well?"

"Yes, I am fine!" Lily snapped. "Now you move huh? When I was up there like a kite caught in a storm you did nothing! What if I had fallen when I was fifty feet up?"

Lily there was nothing I could do!" James exclaimed.

"Lily there was nothing I could do!" Lily mimicked him. She sneered at him. "Is that what you do in case of an emergency?"

"No–"

"I bet it is, you just stand there and do nothing!"

"There was nothing I could do dammit!"

"Yes, there was!" Lily spat angrily. "You are a wizard and a bloody good one James Potter; you could have called Madam Hooch! You could have summoned another broom from the shed and gone after me!"

She looked at James and burst into tears. Slapping away his hands she ran back up to the castle. Sighing in frustration and wondering what a kite was James ran after her.

Lily smiled when she looked over her shoulder and saw James chasing after her.

"Come on, Lily! Wait up!"

He was gaining on her. Lily tried to remain calm. She had an advantage on James; she knew where she was going. Lily ran up the stairs panting, James was behind her. Lily made it to the black doors and knocked. Sirius opened them and pulled her inside.

"Where's James?" Sirius asked.

"Lily! I am sorry!" They heard from outside.

Sirius raised his wand and let red sparks fly; the room went dead silent.

James opened the door and walked inside.

"Lily! Where are you are you!" James called.

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled as the lights went on revealing a fantastic awestruck James.

Laughter filled the room as they saw James' face. "Where is Lily?" James asked hoarsely. Lily was pushed forward a big smile in her face.

"Surprise!"

"You are not mad?" James asked.

Lily laughed and hugged James. "No! It was all part of Padfoot's plan," Lily said happily.

"Sirius?" James asked.

"Yes, mate!" Sirius said laughing. "That was the best face I have ever since seen on you."

"You mean to tell me that the whole display in the Quidditch field was a trap?"

Lily nodded.

James turned to Sirius and held him hard by the shoulder. "How dare you! You let Lily on a jinxed broomstick! I could kill you Padfoot!"

"James!" Lily said pounding on his arm.

"I was flying, you bloody idiot!"

James turned to her. "You were n control the whole time?"

Lily nodded.

"I'll kill you too!" James growled. "Why aren't you in the team?"

Lily shrugged. Just then Remus and Peter walked in and gave Lily a think white package. Lily's smile broadened.

"Here's your present," Lily said and handed it over.

James still scowling ripped the box opened. He was struck dumb again; he turned to look at Lily who stood with her hands behind her back, face free of expression. James laughed and took out the broomstick. It was the newest yet, the Cleansweep. Taking it as a good omen the other students headed over and wished James a happy birthday.

James relaxed but didn't let Lily out of his sight the whole time. He refused all other invitations to dance except with Lily. He noticed that she still wore the bracelet had given her. A brilliant red shone from it. She was happy with him.

Sirius put a slow song by Dulcinea and James pulled Lily to the dance floor.

"Whose idea was this?" James asked her.

"Mine, but the Marauder's helped. Remus and Peter got the food and Sirius got the food and place ready. I don't know who brought the butterbeers here."

"I bet it was Sirius," he said. "And the broom, whose idea was it?"

Lily looked up at him. "All mine."

"And I haven't thanked you yet have I?"

Lily shook her head and brought her face up ready for his kiss.

…o0o…


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

During the Easter Holidays Lily took the Hogwarts express to London. James accompanied her and the trip was spent with Lily screaming at James for putting a prank on the other entire passenger's food. By nightfall they were in London and Lily had fallen asleep across from James, still mad at him.

Ten minutes before the station 9 ¾ James woke Lily up, Lily still half asleep threw James out of the compartment while she changed to jeans and a Muggle shirt. Once outside they had a Ministry car waiting for James. Lily gave them the address to her house; she stopped sulking and decided to talk to James only because Lily was nervous.

They got to 4 Private Drive and Lily jumped out of the car before the driver was able to open the door for her. Lily walked the path to the door trying not to cry.

"They are dead," Lily whispered. "Dead."

It didn't stop her from hoping that her mother would be the one to open the door, laugh, and cry at the same time at seeing her daughter at the door.

"Lily!" Petunia gaped when she saw her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came because –" Lily began.

"Petunia!" Called a gruff voice from inside the house.

"Coming Vernon!" Petunia called. "Come inside, quick. Go to father's study."

Lily pulled James inside.

Petunia and Vernon were entertaining. The whole house was decorated with ribbons and balloons.

"What are you celebrating?" Lily asked.

"Never you mind – in there." She closed the door behind Lily and James.

Lily sighed in disgust. She should have known better then to expect better treatment from Petunia. Lily turned on the lights.

"Was that Petunia?" James asked.

Lily nodded. "Get yourself comfortable, we might be here for hours."

James sighed and sat next to Lily looking around the room his eyes caught a picture of a woman with red hair, looking so much like Lily. He took it and saw that it wasn't lily, but it was a very close resemblance.

"My mother," Lily whispered.

"You look so much like her," James said.

"She was beautiful," Lily said, tracing her mother's image behind the glass.

"As are you," James whispered wiping her tears.

Lily had fallen asleep when Petunia walked inside.

"Lily," James whispered. "Lily wake up, sweet."

Petunia clucked her tongue and pushed past Vernon.

"Come on you little witch, wake up!" She said shaking Lily hard.

"What is it Petunia?" Lily asked her eyes closed.

"Why are you here?"

"I want to know where they are buried."

"Who?"

Lily looked at her sister shocked. "Mum and dad!"

"You came to interrupt my engagement night for this?" Petunia hissed. Lily managed to take a breath, but before she could speak, Petunia continued, "You know you re not welcomed in this house, you or _that._" She said looking at James.

"His name is James Potter," Lily said. "He is my boyfriend and he will be welcomed as much as yours."

James put a hand on Lily's shoulder reassuring her. "Just tell us where Mr. and Mrs Evans are buried."

Petunia shook her head. "It is her fault. People like her and you that killed them."

Lily looked at Petunia, her eyes hardening and her throat tightening, she knew what Petunia would say next. "You remember what mum said, don't you Lily. She warned you."

Lily's breath came out shaky. "I'll go now." She said. She took her jacket and bolted from the room.

"That was uncalled for," James said looking at Petunia. "You know very well that she isn't to blame." He looked at Vernon who stood by Petunia's left shoulder. "There'll be a time when you will ask for our help, and by Merlin and Morgana I hope they don't turn you down." He slammed the door of the room and left the house. He ran outside but didn't find Lily.

It was minutes later that he found her, sitting in a swing at the local park. James sighed in relief. "It isn't true," he said when he was near her.

"I know, but it still hurts." She looked down at her wrist to see a deep blue being radiated from her bracelet. "It's been doing that for a couple of minutes," she said. "It's such a sad color."

James smiled at her. "Let's go back, sweet."

Lily nodded as James took out his wand and summoned the Knight Bus.

They got to Hogwarts exhausted, with James smiling faintly as he watched Lily's mood turned from sad to a clear white for him. She slept during the trip and cried in her sleep.

…ooOooOooOoo…

The rest of the Easter Holidays Lily passed buried in homework. She envied James and Sirius who spent a weekend at it and were done. Remus and Peter along with Lily barely finished on time as they had refused to coy from them. At least Lily made Remus and Peter refuse.

Lily had also returned to sleeping in her dormitory, only talking to Helen and Aeriel who were staying neutral in the fight between the three girls. Still, even if they weren't as close companions as Lessa and Leidianna, for Lily it felt good to have some female companions.

It saddened Lily to walk into the room and find the sudden noise that could be heard from the stairs had stopped at her entrance. She missed her friends especially since she had known both Lessa and Leidianna the longest. She missed them so much she was ready to apologize, but they always left the room they were in as soon as she entered. She had gotten to coming early to avoid them or late in the night while they slept.

It was also a habit now to closing her curtains and bewitching them to make keep all noise inside. She spent most nights reading the thick book, _Ancient Wizarding Families and Their Demise_ by Silvestri Adaman, for her last research paper for History of Magic. Her thesis concentrated on the disappearance of the Pureblood community in the magical world and the causes. The thick book that concentrated on the oldest wizarding families and the described most of the ones that still existed and their family trees was to Lily a wonderful read, going so far as memorizing some of the intricate traditions and rituals.

Even though Lily hated the view that the Purebloods had on Muggles and Muggleborns and was more than disgusted with the author, she pushed on. She found six families all the purer in the world for never mixing with anyone but purebloods, and still maintained political power. The Blacks, the Potters, and the Malfoys were three that she recognized. The Anves and the Galateas had met their end when their only male heir refused to wed a half-blood.

"She is still not here?"

Lily looked up inside her bed, listening.

"She keeps coming in late!"

"If hell breaks loose like last time, I say it is a good thing."

Lily recognized their voices; Lessa and Leidianna were worried about her.

"I wish I had never said any of those horrible things!" Leidianna said sobbing. "I am such an idiot!"

"Then why did you?" Lily asked opening her curtains and stepping out ignoring Lessa's gasp of "Lily!" Lily never broke contact with Leidianna. "Why did you?" Lily repeated.

"I'm sorry. My mum –" she took a deep breath. "My mum knows that you are my friend. I told her about your – " she hesitated before looking away from Lily. "I told her about your _background_ when she asked. She is not very keen on Muggles or Muggleborns, Lily. She told me to stay away from you that you would never get far. I was fed up with all of her criticism," she said crying. "So I told her how you were one of the top witches in the school, how you were Head Girl –"

"I bet she didn't like that," Lily said shaking her head.

"She didn't really care. She said Dumbledore would choose anyone he wanted. Then I made the mistake pf telling her that you were dating the apparent heir to the House of Potter."

Lily looked up. "Why?"

"Because for my mum that's important. She wants me to make a good match, never mind my own plans of becoming a Healer. When she heard that you and Potter were going out –"

"Basically everything you said was a repeat from your mum," Lily said.

"Yes," Leidianna said. "I got _jealous_!"

"Of _James_?" Lily asked incredulous.

"_No!"_ Leidianna said sharply. "Of the fact that even though James is a bloody idiot he got the nerve to ask you out, that's why I was jealous. Even when you kept saying no to him he didn't give up and Eveyn hasn't asked me out _once!_"

"Lily we've missed you," Lessa said, Leidianna nodding her head.

"And we are both sorry for what we said."

Lily looked at both of them and sighed, "I've missed both of you too and I apologize for my temper. Please, forgive me, Lady."

They spent the night catching up on everything they have missed, both girls asking for Lily to help them with their papers due for History of Magic. Lily felt at peace with herself that night and felt a weight she didn't know was carrying being removed from her shoulders.

The next morning the girls headed to the Great Hall for breakfast and later to the library to do their homework. They worked steadily all morning and by lunch Lily was done, having done most of her research all ready. As Lily headed to the Great Hall to get lunch Lessa and Leidianna grumpily went back to work on their research paper.

She found James with Remus and Peter. Smirking slightly Lily pushed Remus away from James and sat between them.

"Where have you been?" James asked.

"In the library working, I've finished everything," the red head said satisfaction in her voice.

Sirius pushed a second year on the other side of James and sat down, smiling and not noticing the boy as he stuck his tongue out behind his back. "They said it was fine, James," Sirius said.

"Perfect," James grinned as Sirius began to gobble food down.

"What's going on?" Lily asked. James didn't answer, and Sirius mouth full only shrugged. It was Remus who answered.

"They want to go swimming in the lake tomorrow on the lake. They've gone ahead and asked permission from MgGonagall and they've asked the elves to pack them a separate lunch."

"Who's invited?" Lily asked.

"Only as five," James said.

"Can I invite someone?" Lily asked. James eyes narrowed his eyes moving to the Slythering table.

"As long as its not –" he cut himself off and turned to Lily. "Who?"

"Lessa and Leidianna," Lily said.

James looked at her and smiled. Sirius looked at her mouth full and chocked when he tried to speak. "Reuizane!" Peter asked mouth also full.

"We made up last night," Lily explained. Wiping her hand where Sirius had spat some food.

"Finally," Remus muttered from Lily's left.

"Yeah, it took you pumpkins a long time," Sirius whispered.

"I'm glad," James, said smiling at her.

…oOo…

The next day dawned, the sun high and bright. Nobody remembered in seven years having the Easter holidays warm enough to be summer. Nobody complained either as the weather was perfect for swimming.

The Marauders told the girls to meet them in the Great Hall; together they walked down to the lake. James and Sirius carrying the basket that seemed big enough to have food to feed a whole Gryffindor House. Remus and Peter walked behind the girls bringing out blankets and towels. The girls had been told to bring nothing but themselves, courtesy from the Marauders.

The girls chose a spot near some trees and they made their spot, opening blankets and setting things down. Lily removed packet after packet of food from the container, the girls having decided on lunch before going inside the water. The boys had other ideas, they groaned at the girl's decision, but left them to it. In a flash they had kicked their shoes and robes off. All four of them lunged into the water.

"Come on, sweet," James called out. "Get in!"

Lily shook her head and took another bite of her sandwich. She watched as Sirius approached James from behind and pulled him down into the water. Lily laughed, until both of them came near enough and began spraying Lily with water. It was minutes later when Lily felt she was being cooked from the heat that she began to look at the water with longing. The boys decided to make their entrance at that moment sneaking behind Lily and Lessa they magically conjured water to float above them and waiting seconds before releasing it and spraying them. At the girl's shrieks of outrage, the boys howled with laughter.

Already wet Lily and Lessa decided to remove their robes and go into the water. Wearing her green two-piece swimsuit Lily ran after James and began what later became a war between boys and girls. It was while Lessa was trying to sneak a cannon ball of water through the boy's defenses that they noticed that Remus was sneaking into theirs. Lily shouted a warning to Lessa, but was late as Remus pulled her into the water and brought her back out only to pull her into a kiss. The boys roared in laughter and thumped Remus on the back when the boys had left. The onslaught continued.

"He kissed you," Lily whispered to Lessa, smiling.

"Yes," Lessa answered dreamily.

Once they had had enough of swimming they all left the water to relax and to get more food. All except Sirius and Peter who had gone missing for some time, even when Lily started to show some distress, James showed no signs of unease.

"What did I tell you? Open the basket and they'll come," Remus said as seconds later Sirius and Peter showed up. James and Lily chuckled.

"Where have you two been?" Lily asked Peter as he made his way to the basket, his black trunks tight around the waist.

"Me?" Sirius asked taking a bite from each his sandwiches. "I've been saying hi to our Mermish friend. Last time we saw them was last June…"

"Mermaids!" Lessa gasped.

"I didn't know there were mermaids here," Leidianna frowned.

"How is Moretta?" James asked.

Sirius expression saddened. "She is doing better according to Aliannis and Marriato."

"Who's Moretta?" Lily asked.

"Chief of the mermaids," Remus said. "She was sick the last time we saw her. I bet they are getting ready to choose a new chief soon." He looked at James and Sirius before he said, "she won't make it."

James looked away and nodded.

"She asked about you Prongs and Moony. I told her you were swimming. She asked if I could bring you over."

James looked around at the girls.

"What do you say, sweet; want to go see some mermaids?"

"Sure," Lily said. They finished their meal while discussing their plan and how they were going to get inside mermaid territory. "According to Dumbledore," Leidianna said, "Witches or Wizards cannot go into mermaid territory in groups more than three. That means we will have to split."

"Yes, we will," James, said. "They are very strict about that ever since the Ministry tried years ago to put bracelets around them to keep an eye on them." Sirius and Remus snorted in disgust.

"Besides," Sirius said, "Small groups mean less chance of Gryndilows attacking us."

"I'll go with Lessa," Remus said, taking the girl's hand. Sirius nodded.

Lily was pulled aside James. "Would you mind going with Peter?"

"No," Lily said. "Just as he knows where we are going…"

James smiled, "Yes, he has been there tons of times before."

"You know," Lily began, "when I heard those rumors in the school, that the Marauders knew the school better than anybody else, I didn't believe them."

"How about know?" James asked trying not to smile.

"I still, don't," Lily smiled. "I'll go with Peter and Leidianna. You can go ahead with Sirius and talk with Moretta."

James shook his head. "I want Leidianna with me and Sirius."

Lily stared. She didn't ask the obvious question knowing that James would answer it for her.

"I'll see if I can get Leidianna to understand that you, sweet, aren't a tramp and that she hurt you."

"James," Lily groaned. "She knows that already. Don't do anything!"

"No," James said. "She insulted you and me. She spread quite a few rumors about you, sweet."

"What!"

"Not so loud. We put an end to them."

"James if you jinxed, cursed, hit, or in any way harmed those students I will personally report you to Dumbledore and make sure you get at _least_ a month's detention!"

"Who gets you girls," he whispered. "_I_ didn't. _ I_ am Head Boy. _I_ have more powers now. What Remus, Sirius and Peter did, I don't know."

Lily sighed but James went on. "All me and Sirius are doing is talking to Leidianna. Remus already talked to Lessa."

"Fine, fine, let's go."

When they were I sight of Sirius again James nodded.

"I'll go with you Peter," Lily said. She was slightly irritated when Peter waited for James to nod before walking to her.

"We'll go with Leidianna then," Sirius said.

They all performed the Bubblehead charm and entered the water. Soon they were all in the water. Lily swam near Peter, seeing the figures of the rest of them banishing in the increasing darkness.

"We'll need light," Peter said. "_Lumos!" _

Lily followed suit, staying as close as possible to Peter not wanting to get lost. They swam deeper on, their wand light illuminating only a few feet ahead of them. Lily swam on until a plant caught her foot. The more tightly Lily pulled at it the tighter the grip was. Frustrated Lily used a spell to sever the plant and quickly swam to catch Peter.

"Peter, we should swim higher," Lily said as another plant coiled itself around her ankles. "Peter?" She looked around her small circle of light but her wand caught no sign of movement except her own. "Peter!"

She felt something graze her foot and she cursed as she saw a school of Gryndilows. Lily was hoping they would pass her by without seeing her. They attacked.

'_So much for that thought.' _

_"Relashio!"_ she shouted. Another four came at her, circling her. "_Relashio!'_ Red patches covered the skin were the spell had hit them. They left. Sighing in relief Lily looked around, she was certain that there was no sign of Peter around. Holding back another sigh Lily began to swim to the surface. _'No point of going on,'_ she thought. '_I wouldn't know how to get there.'_

There was no sign, no warning to her as her wand flew from her hand, slipping through her fingers and was lost. She turned around looking around for a clue, but with out her wand her light was gone, the darkness was complete, she was unable to see her own hands. She knew the spell used against her was the Disarming one, she knew its affects.

"Is that you Peter?" Lily called out. At once cursing herself, knowing that Peter wouldn't attack her, and at the same time knowing dimly that she had given her position away by calling out. Sure enough as soon as the words were out her Bubblehead was gone.

Lily closed her mouth and began to swim toward the surface. She didn't know how deep down she had swum. She kicked with her legs and made her hands move. Her muscles screamed in pain for lack of oxygen. Her brain was getting waterlogged as she opened her mouth seeking oxygen and unable to keep her mouth closed. She needed to breathe! She needed air! Her head began to spin and she had stopped kicking. Her lungs were filling with water. She tried to force herself to move her arms but her limbs refused to respond. She looked around for something, someone! _There!_ Someone was swimming by, she tried to focus, tried to get that person's attention. But the darkness was closing in on her. She was sliding away into the blackness that was gathering around the edges of her mind, screaming for air.

Her eyes began to close and Lily gave up as the darkness peered closer. Someone yanked her by the hair. By instinct Lily's hand tried to move to pull the hands away. But she was no loner in command. She opened her eyes, slowly, and slower still to focus on the person who wanted to kill her.

_James!_

She saw him smile at her. She knew that smile anywhere, the cocky smile she had grown to love. He traced her lips with one finger and swam away.

_'James!'_ Lily's mind howled. _'James!'_

She fell into darkness.

…ooOooOooOoo…


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Lily woke up hours later. She felt her body enjoying the comfortable bed. She thought that she was in her bed in the Girl's Dormitory. The sunlight though she noticed was coming from the wrong side of the room. Her head still throbbing, Lily opened her eyes and instantly recognized where she was. She recognized the Hospital Wing. She tried to say something but moving her mouth was too much of a work and Lily soon lost interest in saying anything.

She tried to move and grunted in pain. Her head was racking itself for an explanation. She knew she had been in danger. She tried to remember what had happened. She closed her eyes again.

_The Washambella? Was that it?_ No, she remembered other things. Her fight with Lessa and Leidianna, her father's death, Sirius and Peter telling her they were Animagus.

"Ms Evans?" The voice was familiar in Lily's mind. Who's was it? "Are you awake dear?"

She soon recognized it then, the nurse, Madam Pomfrey.

"For a while there you had us worried, we thought that you were dead."

Lily didn't register half of what the nurse was saying. Lily groaned and opened her eyes. Madam Pomfrey was inches from her face making Lily close her eyes immediately.

"Don't be scared, you just had a bad experience in the lake, that's all."

It all came back in a jolt, it rushed back to fill Lily's hole in her memory. She has almost drowned in the lake.

And James had been there.

He had done nothing to save her.

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Two days. Your lungs were quite filled with water. It's such a delicate process and painful if you are awake. I thought it better to let you sleep it through without feeling any of it."

She stopped listening again and fell back asleep.

When she woke up again it was night. The windows were open and a slight breeze was blowing in. She turned her head at the sound of footsteps and saw Madam Pomfrey walking toward her with a bottle and a spoon.

"How are you feeling, Ms Evans?"

"Better," Lily answered. _'So long as I don't think about what happened.'_ The thought of James scared her. Yet, her heart told her that he was innocent, her brain accused him. Madam Pomfrey handed her the spoon of green liquid. Lily drank it savoring. It tasted nutty and was actually good, until she swallowed it and then it tasted like she had swallowed a frog, it slimed down her throat, clinging to the walls. She tried swallowing a couple of times to get rid of the sensation.

After the potion Lily felt completely awake. Madam Pomfrey jostles out of the room to return with a tray of food for Lily, Lily smiled and ate the food, and at the end she felt better for it. She was alone for a few minutes when the door opened again and in came Remus followed by Lessa, Peter, Leidianna, Sirius, and James. James and Lily's eyes met and she fainted.

…oOo…

It took a while for Lily to awaken. Madame Pomfrey was hauled away from her office by the shrieks of Lessa and Leidianna.

"What's all this?" she asked. She pushed passed all of them where Lily lay. "She's fainted, relax."

When Lily opened her eyes again she made sure to follow the nurse's every move with her eyes. "Please, let them leave," Lily pleaded. "I don't feel well."

Lily refused to look at any of them for fear of looking at James. "Please, leave," she said loud enough for them to hear.

"Lily, we were worried about you, sweet."

"GET OUT!" Lily shouted, crying. "Get out!"

"Ms Evans, please," Madam Pomfrey said "relax. You need –"

"I need rest, I need sleep. Please tell them to go!"

Madam Pomfrey looked at Lily, who was staring at her eyes full of fear. Lessa and Leidianna were at the door gently being pushed out by Remus who was also leading Sirius and Peter out.

"Leave," Lily said knowing that James remained.

"No."

Lily's eyes remained on Madam Pomfrey.

"Please Madam Pomfrey, I need to speak with Lily," James said.

"I hope is for the best young Potter," she said walking back to her office.

"Lily, look at me," James said moving closer.

"No," Lily whispered turning her head away from him and echoing his earlier reply.

"What happened in the lake?"

"I almost drowned," Lily said, shaking.

"That, I can conclude on my own. You are scared of me Lily," James whispered. He was at her side by the bed.

"Yes, I am frightened of you," Lily whispered.

James sighed. Slowly he reached forward and held her hand, immediately he felt her muscles tense and her hand grew cold, he went higher touching her arm and her shoulder, slowly he touched her chi and turned her face to look at him.

"Have I ever," James said his voice hoarse. "Done anything to hurt you? Anything against your will?"

"No," Lily said seeing him for time in three days. He had dark circles around his eyes and he looked worried and drained. Above all he was hurt. He no longer reminded her of that boy that had wrestled in the water.

He had been worried for her.

"_Stayed all night and day. He had to be threatened to get rest or he wouldn't come back." _ Madam Pomfrey had said all those months ago.

"Because," Lily said. "I saw your face. I saw your smile before everything went dark. I SAW YOU!"

James backed away. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that someone with a wand disarmed me and removed by Bubblehead. I mean that when I was looking for help I saw you and you smiled and you touched my lips and you left. YOU WERE THERE JAMES! THAT'S WHY I CAN'T BEAR TO SEE YOU!"

"No!" James said. "_I_ wasn't there!"

"That's bollocks!" Lily shouted. James was at her side in one stride. He held her face with his hands.

"I would never _do_ anything to hurt you Lily. Nothing. EVER."

"But I saw you!"

"It wasn't _me!_" James whispered fiercely.

"How is that possible?" Lily shouted.

"I don't know. But I will swear on anything that it _wasn't_ me. I will do anything."

He held her face close to him their forehead touching. Lily looked at him. James Potter had warmth in his heart and love and life. The one that left Lily was hollow. "Believe me sweet, believe me."

Lily looked at him. "I believe you, James."

He hugged her, pinning her hands to her side. He took all of her and hugged her burying his face in her hair, breathing in her scent and touching her. Lily cried her face on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Lily whispered.

James let go of her. "I'm sorry, I should have been with you." He traced her face. "You are alive," he said.

Lily nodded.

"I am sorry to interrupt," said a voice from the entrance of the ward. Lily and James turned to see the headmaster standing by the door and behind him stood Sirius, Remus, and Peter. "Ms Evans, how are you feeling?"

"Better," Lily said not wanting to shout at him that she was almost drowned by someone who was still loose on the grounds and had tried to kill her before by sending Washambellas. "Yes, I am better."

"Would you mind telling me what happened in the lake."

"What's there to tell?" Lily said. "I almost died."

"Please Ms Evans begin." Dumbledore looked old and grave.

She told him everything, he didn't interrupt but Sirius, and Remus did. "That's not true!" "It couldn't have been James!" Lily ignored the comments and went on.

"Very well, Ms Evans, now let us hear Mr. Lupin account on the situation."

Remus nodded at Dumbledore and turned his gaze to Lily, staring at her directly as he spoke. "I jumped in with Lessa and we started racing with James and Sirius to see who would get there first. We were ahead, and I was sure we were going to win when Lessa told me to stop because she had heard something. We stopped and looked around us waiting for something to attack us when Peter appeared shouting random spells to the Grindylows that were attacking him. We helped him fight them off and we went back toward the surface.

"He told us how he lost you for a while and that you might have been following a Hinkypunk ("Those don't live underwater," said Lily.) Thinking it was him. It wasn't until then that it hit me that you still hadn't surfaced and you couldn't go to the mer-people because you didn't know the location. I waited a couple more minutes and then Sirius and James came out holding Leidianna who had been attacked by the Grindylows so they returned. When I saw you weren't with them I jumped in, looking for you. I heard a second splash and then Lessa was with me.

"We looked for you. We separated each taking a different ways of the lake. I swam to the forest of the Grindylows and searched among them. I found a wand and recognized it as yours. I found you minutes later, deadly pale. I thought you were dead. Lessa found me seconds later fighting Grindylows. Together we took you back up. Once on the surface we screamed for help, Sirius and James jumped in. He brought you out. Sirius and Lessa ran to get Madam Pomfrey. Leidianna was hysterical you were blue and weren't moving. When Madam Pomfrey arrived she cast a spell that had you vomiting all the water out of your lungs. I didn't realize it until today that when James moved forward you went hysterical. You were terrified of him." Remus took a deep breath.

Sirius who had been looking at Lily the whole time spoke to Dumbledore, even then his eyes remained on Lily. "James was with me the whole time professor. We separated for five minutes to seek out Leidianna. He couldn't have had time to find Lily, disarm her, remove the Bubblehead charm, and find me and Leidianna." Sirius' voice was firm. He was stating facts.

Lily cleared her throat and took James hand. "I know it wasn't him. James would never do anything to hurt me." Lily's throat felt tight and her eyes burned, but Lily Evans did not cry.

…oOo…

Overall it wasn't the perfect way to end the Easter Holidays. Of course, rumor spread that Lily had almost been murdered, no one wanted to say James' name as the possible perpetrator. It took a lot of patience from Lily and many jinxes from the Marauders to convince the school otherwise.

Even though Lily was fine, James seemed worried about something. Every time she would bring it up, James would easily change the subject. Finally one day, Lily managed to pin him down.

"James is something the matter?" It was sometime in May that Lily managed to get him to answer her questions. "You have that face on," she said.

"What face?"

"The one that makes me feel as if you are eons away from here and that you know something I don't."

"I am just thinking," James said looking at her,

"About?" Lily pushed.

"Your mother dies in September, sweet, your father in March and you have had to many close encounters with death. First the Washambella, now this…" His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"I guess I'm just too popular," Lily said trying to make light of the situation. James barely cracked a smile.

She too was worried.

…ooOooOooOoo…


	13. Chapter 13

It was charts, analyzing essays, reviewing hexes and spell practicing that kept most seventh year in the library

It was charts, analyzing essays, reviewing hexes and spell practicing that kept most seventh years in the library. So it was no surprise that it was closing time and Madam Pince had more than half the seventh years browsing her books (the other half being the smart ones that took the books to their dorms). Lily, Lessa, and Leidianna were part of the half that still stayed in the library, and Lily was seriously considering hiding behind one of the bookshelves to keep studying when Madam Pince sent a spell to quicken their pace. It wasn't easy to ignore that fierce scowl that the librarian sent their way since it was their fault, well, Lily's fault that they had made her working nights longer. It had taken a lot of pleading from Lily's part to convince Professor MgGonagall to let Madame Pince keep the library open past its usual hour. Still, it was past midnight and with exams fast approaching none of the girls was ready to call it a night. After Madam Pince slammed the door at their heels they scurried away looking for an empty classroom to practice.

The door had barely clicked closed when Peeves zoomed in through the door.

"Aaaaah! Ickle girlies!" he cackled making Leidianna to swear out loud. "Tut, tut, tut," Peeves shook his head sadly as his grin grew wider. "Ickle girlies out of bed at night and Filch lurking about…."

"Lily, do something," Lessa whispered. It wasn't known to very many people that Lily and Peeves had an understanding. Lily knew Peeves, and their deal was perfect for both of them. Peeves kept an eye out for her and Lily made sure that whenever it was possible she could make it easier for Peeves to terrorize Filch. Lily nodded and stepped forward. Peeves was at that moment inflating itself with air, ready to bellow out for Filch. As soon as his eyes saw Lily however, he deflated and laughed wickedly.

"Give us safe passage to the Tower and I'll give you the password to Filch's office." Lily rolled her eyes as Peeves pretended to consider the offer.

"Oooh, tempting!" Peeves jeered.

"Well?' Lessa asked impatiently.

"Peevesie agrees…" Peeves said already disappearing.

"Thanks Peeves," Lily said opening the door. "I'll give you the password first chance I get." They ran.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED IN THE SECOND FLOOR! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. Lily held on to her book bag as she ran smiling. '_Leave it to Peeves to come up with the right touch'_

They had run more than halfway there all of them confident that they would make it to the common room with Filch being none the wiser, when Mrs. Norris crossed their path.

"Uh-oh," Lily whispered. "We have to split." Each took a different corridor neither knowing who Mrs. Norris was following. Lily made it back to the Great Hall and was a step into the staircase that would lead her up when she heard voices. She ran back down and threw herself into the cupboard under the stairs. Her heartbeat was loud and so was her breathing, as the voices grew closer she held her breath to stop the noise all together. It escaped in one noisy tuft of air as she recognized the voices for students. Any other day Lily would have jumped out and given detention to the night wanderers, instead she reclined back into the wall and waited for them to pass.

"Bow your head Sirius! You are too tall!"

Lily stopped in mid-movement, her hand going for the handle.

"That's James not me," Sirius hissed.

Slowly Lily opened the cupboard and stared. There was no one.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Lily heard Peter ask. She looked to the place where she heard the voice. Nothing!

"Of course not, Wormtail! Why would I be?"

Lily rolled her eyes at James' cockiness.

"Still it _is_ the final," Sirius whispered. "Its not like last match where we were playing the reserved Seeker, this time it will be Whizesh. He might be a fourth year but he's good."

"Sirius, do you see who they have for Chasers? Our Chasers are more than competent."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't matter does it," said Peter. "What matters are our Seekers, and our Seeker still getting over that bout of flu?"

"Blah, blah, blah," James went over haughtily, "Our name is engraved on that cup."

"You better not let Lily hear that voice," Peter said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" came James' reply.

"You know she hates it when–"

"Shhhh! someone's coming!" Sirius whispered.

Lily looked in frustration, wondering what spell they where using, or of they had been rash enough to brew a potion only a Potion Master could perform.

Her eyes caught the fluttering of a piece of parchment as it fell a few feet away from the doors that led to the outside of the castle.

"Sniff my sweet, smell!"

"Quiet!" James hissed. Lily was able to see where they stood now. Their shoes were showing from under what Lily was now assuming to be an invisibility cloak. The doors where still a few feet away from where they stood.

"Think we can make it?" Sirius asked.

"No," Peter said flatly.

"Only one way to find out," James whispered.

Lily's eyes followed their progress across the few feet they had left. They made it to the doors and hurriedly opened them and stepped out.

Lily pulled out her wand, "_Accio Parchment!_" The paper zoomed to her hand and she quickly stashed it inside her pocket and opened the door another crack.

"Well, well, well."

Lily cursed mentally. It was Filch. She looked up at the ugly sneer of his ugly face. Still, she couldn't come up with any possible explanation as to why she was inside a cupboard close to two in the morning.

"Are we searching for other troublemakers in there, Head Girl? What did they do this time? Steal you badge?"

Lily stared angrily at Filch but remained silent as he walked behind him. He took her to Professor Slughorn's office. At least she might have a chance to get out without punishment, Lily thought. The Potion Master was a lot more lenient than the Gryffindor Head of House.

"Ms Evans, what a surprise!" Slughorn said clapping his hands once.

"I caught her lurking about the Great Hall."

"Oh, Come, come, Mr. Filch. Surely as the Head Girl she must have a reason for being out of bounds after hours. Do you have an explanation, Ms Evans?"

"No," Lily said. She had just spoiled her one chance of going free without punishment and Slughorn knew it. She could feel the smile on Filch's face grow behind her.

Slughorn sighed disappointedly. "Then I'm afraid a punishment is in order." Lily nodded and looked to the ground. "Detention, tomorrow at noon. You are to come here."

Lily was flabbergasted. "But… but… that's tomorrow's match! Gryffindor vs. Slytherin! The final!"

"Yes, well, you break the rules and you pay for them."

Lily opened her mouth to retaliate but Slughorn raised his hand to stop her. "I am being lenient here; Ms Evans and we both know it. Return to your common room. I expect you here at noon on the morrow."

Lily sighed and nodded and left the office clenching her hands that were itching to reach for her wand and jinx Filch. She couldn't believe she was going to miss the match all because of that odious man and his hateful cat. She looked behind her to make sure Filch wasn't behind her, him or that cat, before opening the nearest classroom door and sliding in. Carefully she took out the parchment from her pocket and examined it under her wand light.

"No wonder they never got caught!" she whispered in amazement. It was a map of Hogwarts, inside the grounds and outside and if she was looking at it right passages that she knew she didn't think existed. And still the most extraordinary aspect about that old piece of parchment was that it showed all the people walking around. Filch was currently on the third floor and Mrs. Norris on the fifth. It took a while for her to find her dot, but there it was one floor above the dungeons: Lily Evans. She unrolled more of the parchment until it was all spread on the desk table near her.

**Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, **

**and Prongs**

**Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers **

**Are Proud to Present **

**The Marauders Map **

'_The idiots had written the map!' _ Lily was impressed. It was very advanced magic. She searched again and found their names as they moved slowly across the grounds. Seized by sudden impulse Lily got her wand and disillusioned herself. Quietly as possible she made it down the corridors, past the Great Hall and out of the Castle. She sneaked out of the castle and thanked the skies for the full moon that illuminated the ground. She fixed the direction the Marauders where moving in and ran.

It wasn't long before she was able to hear their voices again. Her vision darkened as a cloud moved on front of the moon covering the light. She contemplated letting them know that she was there but the temptation soon passed and decided better to find a place to hide. Looking around she saw holly bushes and hid behind them. She watched as the Messrs neared the Whomping Willow. Then from under the cloak crawled out a rat, and Lily saw it scampering around. She knew full well that the rat, Wormtail was non-other than Peter's animagus form. Still she did see something she had never seen the Whomping Willow do before. Wormtail must have pressed something because the tree was frozen. Following closely behind Wormtail was Padfoot, the bear like dog with shaggy hair. Lily watched as James removed the invisibility cloak as someone stepped out from the tree. She had to wait a few moments for the cloud to move from the moon for her to be able to see who it was that had stepped out; that it was a man there was no doubt by the silhouette and the way he stood. With the moon now uncovered and giving light to the grounds Lily couldn't really say she was surprised to see that the person that stood before James was Remus.

What she did not expect was how rigid Remus suddenly became, or the way he began to shake. '_Moony!'_ Lily realized. '_He's Moony!'_ She watched as Remus' body began to lengthen, shoulders hunched and his hair began to grow speedily over his face and arms. She gasped as his hands and feet turned into paws with inch long claws. She knew what she was seeing; she was seeing monthly sickness and disappearances for seven years come into clarity. She was seeing a werewolf transforming. _Remus was a werewolf._

Her shocked mind took a while to react to the transformations she had just seen. She was in danger, as a werewolf, Remus would feel compelled to come after her and bite her. She had to hide.

"James," she said looking over to where he stood. Then it hit her. James was in as much danger as she was, if not more. James wasn't safe, he was not an animagus, and he didn't have the protection Padfoot and Wormtail had in their animal forms. She was ready to step forward a plan of sorts ready in her mind. She was ready to start running spells to stop a werewolf ready to be shouted when she realized there was no James. There was no James, instead in his place stood a marvelous white stag.

"Prongs?" Lily whispered stunned. When Sirius and Peter had told her that they were animagus they had made I sound as if it was only them two. She hadn't expected James to be one as well, just as she hadn't expected Remus to be a werewolf. She watched as Prongs and Moony went into the Whomping Willow. It was in that moment that Lily past from stunned to betrayal and anger.

She would give them a head start and then she would follow.

Lily was more than an average witch and she didn't need to scour through her mind to come up with a plan. '_The definition of a Gryffindor: recklessness and a death wish' _Lily remembered Severus Snape saying once when they were third years and still friends. Her mother would have just said that curiosity killed the cat. Still, knowing that she was heading straight into a werewolf's den wasn't enough to put fear in her.

Not being an Animagus Lily did that next best thing.

_"Abeo Felix Catus!"_

Slowly Lily shrank in size and hair grew all over her. She felt furry and she had a tail. _'It worked!'_ Lily thought. _ 'I'm a cat!'_

She wasted no time sniffing the grass or trying to roll on it. Lily darted forward, slithering between the branches of the Whomping Willow, which had began to move again. Lily placed her paw upon the same knot that the Wormtail had touched.

She was a little surprised that the tree had stopped moving. '_Knowing the Marauder's I half expected to also be password protected,' _she thought. The same gap opened in the tunnel and Lily slipped inside, marveling at how wonderful it felt to move in four legs. She followed the tunnel moving as fast as possible wondering where it was heading and how long it would take.

She was just beginning to tire when she felt the tunnel begin to rise and twist. Somewhere ahead of her she could hear growling and barking.

Lily raced on until she came up into what looked like a very poorly and badly kept house. Confused she looked around at the boarded windows and at the broken furniture; the splinters of the broken door where everywhere and if Lily was seeing correctly some one had tried to make a statue out of the broken table and chair legs. _'Talk about modern art.' _It took her brain a while to recognize the Shrieking Shack: the only house that could be in that distance that also had boarded up windows and doors.

Moving with stealth Lily followed the source of the noise, trying to avoid the falling plaster from the walls and the creaking of her the floor boards underneath her paws. She wondered as she walked if there had ever really been any ghosts in the shack or if it had been all a great big hoax created by the Marauders. She didn't want to give them too much credit and then be disappointed.

Quietly she climbed the stairs and followed the barks. She got to the room where she knew they were at; pushing with all her might Lily opened the door enough to see through.

Inside the werewolf was curled up on a corner. The dog was nudging him at his sides and barking. Lily starred at the bizarre scene. The stag was a few feet away watching.

It happened fast. The werewolf stood and slapped the dog away, grazing Padfoot's face. Lily crouched to the ground, all hairs in her body on end in horrified as the werewolf moved forwards, teeth bare, growling. Padfoot's tail tossed from one side to the other, happy and oblivious to the danger the werewolf posed.

The stag moved closer watching carefully. Lily was unable to see where Peter was. Suddenly the werewolf attacked the dog, both were locked in battle. Moony used his claws to get at the dog and managed to scratch the shoulders and back. Padfoot howled in pain and managed to get away from the werewolf's grip; the stag moved forwards and tried to keep the werewolf away from the dog.

Lily wanted to put a stop to it all. There was blood pooling on the floor from where Sirius barely stood. She was frozen in place watching as both James and Remus kept struggling, each fighting to control the other James by using his bulk and long legs to keep Moony off.

Lily was sure James had the upper hand until Remus saw an opening and scratched the stag's chest. James backed away, hurt but still keeping in front of Padfoot. Sirius being Sirius and Gryffindor dodged the stag and rammed its head on the belly of the werewolf, who in turn howled in pain. '_Recklessness and a death wish indeed.'_

Lily's hair stood on end and she was unable to stop herself from meowing as the werewolf continued to howl.

The sudden bark made Lily jump and she ran out of the room, Padfoot right behind her. She ran on, happy that she was able to move easily in four legs. She managed to get to the end of the tunnel and to press the knot. She heard the dog barking a way off just as she was out and running back to the castle. She managed to open the door of the castle then she didn't stop until she was in front of the Fat Lady.

There, Lily managed to transform back. The Fat Lady was shocked, surprised and then furious.

"As Head Girl, you should set an example!"

Lily's anger bursted.

"Do you tell the same to the Head Boy?" Lily snapped.

The Fat Lady remained silent.

"I didn't think so. L**uminarium**." Lily said giving the password.

Lessa and Leidianna were still awake and waiting for her.

"What happened to you?" Lessa asked.

"I got caught. Stupid Filch."

"And?" Leidianna prodded.

"I got detention for tomorrow at noon." Lily said. For some reason, missing the match didn't seem as important.

"You'll _miss_ the match!" The girls chorused.

Lily nodded.

"James will be disappointed" Leidianna said.

'_Let him be,' _Lily thought. '_I'm more than disappointed in him."_

Lessa and Leidianna headed for bed, Lily shook her head and remained in the common room. When they were out of sight Lily removed the map from her pocket for closer examination. James, Sirius, and Peter were coming back.

Her watch said that it was two in the morning.

Hurriedly Lily put the map back into her robes. She gathered her books around her and pretended to be very busy.

She needed to find one more thing tonight. Lily sat on the chair closer to the fire with a book on her hands. Her hand began to tremble and she hoped, she hoped that James would answer with the truth.

The portrait swung open and James walked in followed by Sirius and Peter.

"I swear, I think he enjoyed it this time," Sirius was saying as he looked at a nasty scratch on his arm. Lily looked up.

"Oh, hi you guys" Lily said not even trying to pretend at sounding tired.

Sirius jumped a foot on the air; he clutched his chest as he began to breathe deeply.

"Never do that again!" Sirius gasped.

Lily laughed. But it was hollow. She looked him over and found the scratch on his arm. Lily turned to James and just as she expected saw the scratch on his chest.

"What are you still doing up?" James asked.

"Studying," Lily lied while she stifled a yawn. She decided to press her luck. "Just doing some reviewing for Transfiguration, I had forgotten that people who were Animagus and didn't register were sent to Azkaban."

She watched carefully for a reaction. Sirius looked up and narrowed his eyes, looking at her, Peter trembled.

"Really?" James asked unconcerned.

"Yeah," Lily said standing up. She put down her books and made for her dormitory. James grabbed her arm and pulled her close for a kiss. Lily stopped him.

"James, you're bleeding!" Lily said concerned.

"It's nothing", James said and pulled Lily closer. Lily pulled away.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked.

"Yes," James answered. Lily stepped back and looked at James. She stared at him with such ferocity, and James noticed that the bracelet was pulsing emerald green.

_'Oh dear," _thought James.

"What?" he asked out loud.

"James," Lily said slowly, he knew it was to remove the anger she felt, "is there something you want to tell me?"

"What do I need to tell you?"

Lily had to hand it to him; he sounded unconcerned as if he had nothing to hide.

"Like where you got those scratches from," Lily said. She looked straight at James' eyes, not blinking.

"No," James said, "it was an accident."

"Okay, James." Lily stepped back and went to bed.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day at noon as the students walked to the Quidditch field Lily was angrily making her way to the dungeons

Sorry for the long wait. Life just decided to take its toll on me. I will continue to post.

….oooooo000OOOO0000oooooo……..

The next day at noon as the students walked to the Quidditch field Lily was angrily making her way to the dungeons. She made it to the office trying hard to tune out the sound of students cheering and the knowledge that she would be stuck inside the dungeons scrubbing cauldrons while the rest of the school cheered and laughed and joked. "Great, now I'm sounding like Petunia," she murmured as she knocked. The door opened on its own accord.

"Professor, I am here for detention," Lily looked around the empty office.

"Oh, hello there," Professor Slughorn called.

Lily turned searching for Professor Slughorn. "Hello?"

"Over here!" said the same voice. Lily followed the voice to a portrait of Professor Slughorn waving his hands to get Lily's attention.

"Where is the Professor?" Lily asked.

"At the match," the portrait replied.

"What!?" Lily shrieked, "You mean to tell me that I'm stuck here and he is watching the match?"

"Well, he is the Head of Slytherin, you know, besides you are the one being punished," the portrait said smugly.

Lily growled.

"What am I supposed to do?" Lily asked irritated.

"He left his instructions on that desk."

Lily walked to the desk.

"Give me a good excuse of why you were outside at such a late hour," Lily read "make it one-foot long and then come join us in the Quidditch field."

"Who's to judge whether it is a good excuse!"

"I am," said the portrait.

Lily groaned. She sat and began to write. Ten minutes later she read it to the portrait. She thought it was good: it was simple and straightforward. The portrait shook its head. Lily decided to try the one about the students trashing the Head Room; again the portrait shook its head. At the end she told the truth. The portrait laughed.

"That was good, werewolves, animagus, and Filch."

Lily left the paper and ran out of the room. She crossed the dungeons, ran up the stairs to the Entrance Hall, and tore across the lawn to the field. She was quite near when she heard the stands erupt in noise. Lily cursed. She had missed the match. She heard the score being shouted 150 to 20 Gryffindor.

Lily was surprised. The Gryffindor chasers hadn't scored at all. Slytherins began to leave the stands. A group of fifth years passed by making faces at Lily and hissing, Lily glared back at them and hissed at them. The confused and utterly bewildered faces of the fifth years made was enough to break Lily's bad mood. She found Lessa with Remus, both happily cheering. Lily's eyes sought James. She found him thick in a crowd of well wishers.

Smiling, Lily shook her head and went back to the common room.

Slowly the room grew louder with students cheering that they had won the cup. The party didn't really start until late afternoon when the Marauders walked into the common room full of food and drinks and sweets.

When she saw Remus kissing Lessa, Lily gave up. She opened her bag and took out a piece of parchment, taking a quill she wrote:

_Remus meet me in the Room of Requirements._

_Now!_

_Lily_

When Lessa left him to get a drink Lily headed him off and gave him the piece of parchment. Lily didn't wait. She headed out the door swinging the Fat Lady a bit harder than necessary.

Lily made it to the room and was glad to see it had changed itself to look like someone's living room. There were chairs and tables. Instead of taking a chair and making herself comfortable Lily paced.There was a knock on the door, Lily jumped and paled, but she was glad Remus had come.

"Lily?" He asked confused.

"Remus, I need to talk to you," she hesitated, then, "about you being a werewolf."

The room rang with silence; Lily could have sworn she could hear the ice in the pumpkin juice melting. She saw Remus pale, but otherwise very calm.

"How long have you known?" Remus asked.

"Since yesterday," Lily whispered.

"How did you find out?" he asked still calm.

"I followed you, saw you enter the Willow."

"You were the cat Sirius chased?" Remus asked coolly.

"Yes," Lily said faintly.

"And did you know that James, Sirius and Peter are Animagus?"

"Sirius told me, so did Peter. I never suspected James, he never mentioned it. Until yesterday I would have thought he wasn't. He is the stag. I didn't want to believe it."

"What are you going to do with this information?"

Remus asked coolly but Lily saw that the little color his face had left him.

"Remus, you fool!" Lily said irritated. "What kind of a person do you think I am? I won't tell anyone! I just wanted you to know- you don't only have James, Sirius and Peter. Count on me too."

Remus smiled softly, "That's what Lessa said."

"You told Lessa?" Lily asked surprised.

"I couldn't really keep hiding it from her. I told her and I thought she was going to be scared stiff of me. She is not."

"I…I didn't know…how long has Lessa known?"

"Since the fiasco in the lake," Remus answered.

Lily shuddered, trying not to remember.

The door opened and James, Sirius and Peter walked in.

"Hello, you lot," Lily said. "Congratulations on the match, James." She went to hug him but noticed instead that the sleeve on his arm was bloody.

"James!" Lily cried out worried.

James tried to cover his arm but Lily grabbed it and pulled the sleeve up. James had a nasty slash running from his shoulder to his elbow. Lily threw a nasty look at Remus who looked away.

James went unaware of the exchange but Sirius intercepted it. He nudged Remus on the elbow.

"She knows?" Sirius asked.

"Oh yeah, she knows," Remus answered.

"Sit on the couch," Lily ordered James. She left them to go searching the cabinets.

Sirius hurriedly sat next to James.

"Prongs I should warn you about Lily."

"Warn me?" James asked, "About what?"

"You should tell her Prongs."

Lily came back with a bottle of Murtlap Essence and bandages and towels. Within seconds she had cleaned the wound and was patching James up.

The whole time Peter and Remus had argued quietly, while Sirius and James argued silently with their hands.

"That should help," Lily said when she was done. She sat across from him, staring. It was now or never. James would have to tell her now what was going on. He would tell her at that moment why he kept on disappearing. She wanted to hear James say it. She needed to know that he trusted her.

But James remained silent.

Angrily Lily bit her lip; she stood up and made for the door.

James looked up as Lily opened the door. He was surprised her bracelet was radiating a fierce emerald green.

"This is enough!" she said angrily. "Night Sirius, Remus, Peter."

"Lily wait, what's wrong?" James asked.

"What's wrong?" Lily hissed.

James nodded.

"What's wrong?" Lily nodded. "What's wrong, James is that for moths I have been waiting for _you_ to tell _me_ where you keep disappearing to every month, coming back with scratches and wounds." Lily's hands began to shake. "I was expecting _you_ to tell _me_ James!"

Lily lowered her voice, her eyes on her hands.

"I didn't want to accept it but you have left me no choice. You don't trust me, James."

"I _do _trust you!" James said standing.

"That's bollocks and we both know it! Not once this month have you even thought about telling me – go on," Lily shouted. "Prove me wrong! Tell me where you go to every month."

"Just because –"

"No James, there are no _'because.'_ Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you." James answered.

"Tell me where you go every month."

James looked at Lily.

"We go and explore the forest, trying to see what kind of beasts and –"

"Do you think that I'm stupid?" Lily hollered.

"No! I don't think that!"

"Then stop being such a bloody pillock and tell me where the bloody hell you go!"

"If you think that I am seeing another girl than you must be thick!"

"I know it's not another girl! You would have told me if it was!"

"Well, you're right! I am not!" James said furiously.

"You had better not!" Lily shouted in anger flowing through her.

James took a breath, trying to calm himself.

"I told you the truth."

Lily slapped him, hard. James' face jerked to the left and his face quickly colored.

"You prat! I have worried sick over you. How I worried when I saw the wounds! And still you dare to lie to me!"

"It is not a lie!"

"I know the truth!"

"You know nothing!" James shouted.

"Are _you_ sure? I am _not_ the one parading around the school with a werewolf, James!"

James face paled.

"James!" Remus began.

"Stay out of it, Moony!" James shouted. Lily shook her head in disappointment.

"You could have told me you know. But I guess –"

"HOW DID YOU FIND OUT?!" James roared.

"What, you think that because you are under the invisibility cloak your noises are also magically invisible?"

"YOU HAVE BEEN SPYING ON ME!" James yelled.

"Spying! YOUR ARROGANCE DISGUSTS ME! It is not my fault that you are careless. Speaking loudly and leaving behind this stupid map!" She threw the Marauder's Map targeting James' face.

It hit him but he caught it before it hit the ground.

James had no need of opening the parchment he knew what it was.

"How the bloody hell did you get this?!" James roared at her.

"I found it on the floor!" Lily shouted.

Lily had never seen James loose control of his anger. Never.

"DON'T LIE!"

"LIE? YOU CALL ME A LIAR WHEN YOU AND YOUR MARAUDERS LEAVE THE GROUNDS EVERYDAY UNDER THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK! _AND _SINCE ALL OF YOU ARE ANIMAGUS YOU CAN KEEP REMUS COMPANY!"

Fierce anger rolled in waves through Lily's body. She felt her magic rise to the surface, easily for her to loose control and do some damage. James' had made a fool of her. She sighed and just the thought of what she had to do next cooled her instantly. She swallowed and brought her magic back to her. She needed to stay in control.

"For me to have any kind of relationship with a man there must be love, compromise and trust." Her voice was higher than usual and towards the end it began to tremble. "We have two, but no trust." She closed her eyes blinking away the need to cry. "I trust you James, but it seems to me t..that you.. you don't trust me. This is as far as we go."

James looked up and saw her head held high and saw her teeth clenched to stop from trembling.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that we are through" Lily said faintly.

There was quite after her words, no one dared to speak. Remus, Sirius and Peter all looked away from each other, wanting to leave and yet not daring to.

Then…

"FINE!" James bellowed, "JUST FINE! BUT YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT ABOUT ALL OF THIS!"

"You disgust me James," Lily said and turned around to leave the room.

"And how do you think that I felt every time I had to be with you, huh?"

Lily whirled around looking questioningly at James.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked.

"What, do you think I really like you? You have to be really thick! I WOULD NEVER REALLY CARE FOR A MUDBLOOD!"

Lily's eyes flashed with anger.

"Just as well James, because the only reason I ever went out with you is because I made a bet. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WITH WHOM? WITH SIRIUS! HE FELT SO SORRY FOR YOU, THE FACT THAT I ALWAYS TURNED YOU DOWN. We bet ten Galleons that I would last less than a month with you!"

"I should have known," James said with a poisonous hiss, "it sounds exactly like what a Mudblood would do. I guess Leidianna was right. That is _all you are taught._"

Lily closed the distance between them in three strides. She didn't hesitate as her hand curled into a fist and swung her arm back. There was a thud where Lily's fist made contact with James' face. He staggered back but didn't cry out.

"Please do not insult the memory of my parents," was her whisper as she shook her hand to lessen the pain.

"It only hurts when it is the truth," was James' angry reply.

"I am glad that we know each others faults, James. Now let me tell you of one that hurts the most." She moved until she was an inch away from him, eye to eye neither backing down. "I love you."

On cue her bracelet quickly turned to white. Her eyes held him and he could have sworn that it hummed. Then silently she turned and left. The bracelet died to the saddest blue that he had yet seen her wear.

Lily ran all the way to the Great Hall bumping into people – Filch included. Without seeing where she was going she opened the door out of the castle and plunged into the night.

...ooo000OOO000ooo...

Back in the Room of Requirements Sirius picked up a small black box. He laughed once he peered at the contents.

"I see nothing funny!" James said angrily.

"You. You are the biggest prat I have met in my life."

James whirled around angrily.

"I told you to tell her, now you have given her a reason for breaking up with you when it's so obvious that you are arse over elbow over her."

"So!" James shouted.

"_So!_ So _you_ love her!" Sirius shouted an accusing finger pointing at James.

"I DO NOT LOVE HER!" James shouted.

"Of course you do, and she lied about the bet."

"I know, _she's_ horrible at lying."

"What are you talking about," Remus said, "I believed her!"

James gave them a half smile.

"She can't lie to me," James said. "I always know, though she seems to be getting better at it."

James sighed and sank into one of the chairs around.

"So," Sirius began. "What are you going to do now that the love of your life has left?"

"_She is not the love of my life!"_

"Then why did I find this engagement ring on the floor?"

James looked at Sirius, sure enough Sirius held a small black box with a ring inside. James looked away.

"And if I'm not mistaken," Sirius continued, "I think that this is the Potter's engagement ring."

James nodded.

"You were planning on asking her tonight?"

James nodded.

"Since when has this been serious?" Peter asked.

Remus turned to Peter. "Do you remember the time when we sent a present to every girl in the school and once they opened the box all sorts of animals and bugs crawled out? It was chaos," Remus chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember," Peter said.

"And do you remember what Lily did?"

"Yeah," Peter laughed. "She waited until the next day and charmed the food we ate."

"It was horrible," Sirius said, "it put me off food for a week."

Remus laughed, "As I recall, Sirius, you were eating a chicken leg even when you saw it crawling with worms!"

"Don't remind me!" Peter groaned. "I had been eating pudding and the next second it was cockroaches!"

"Yeah well since then, James has been crazy about Lily. She was the only one who stood up against him. Of course the fact that she kept winning over the years only added to his obsession."

They were all staring at James.

"James….?" Peter asked.

"Hmmm…?"

"James, you know…" Remus tried to ask the question they were all bursting to ask.

"Come on James!" Sirius urged his friend.

"Yes, I love her," James said with a sigh.


	15. Chapter 15

Lily ran outside, oblivious to the shrieking sounds of Peeves calling her back; neither did she pay attention to the oncoming insults that Peeves made when he noticed she was ignoring him. She didn't know where she was going she just wanted to be outside and breathe clean, crisp air. Her throat was restricting at the moment, making breathing a difficulty. Still running she took the path that led away from the greenhouses and passed by Hagrid's hut. It took her a while as she walked to realize that the water falling against her face was not only her tears but also rain. Her breathing was coming out in harsh gasps.

She ignored her tears and her sobs and the rain. She ignored the slippery ground and mud just as she was ignoring James in her mind. _'You have to be really thick! I would never really care for a MUDBLOOD!' _ Soon she wasn't able to see ahead of her as the rain fell heavier and she was drenched. It was stupid; running outside, at night, to the forest, all when it rained. She stopped running the stitch on her side becoming almost unbearable and slowed down to a walk.

She wasn't concentrating on her surroundings, so she didn't noticed the ground slopping downwards. She slipped. Skidding on the slippery ground her arms waving about like windmills she wasn't able to hold her balance and she fell. It wasn't until the last moment that her hands came forward to stop her face from hitting the ground. Her arm wasn't ready for the impact she fell in an odd angle. There was a loud crack as her wrist snapped broken. Angrily she let out a sharp cry of pain.

Taking a deep breath Lily looked at herself. Her robes were no longer black, but muddy brown. Clasping her left wrist with her right hand, Lily once again started to walk, this time with a purpose. She was closer to Hagrid's than the castle.

She slipped again in her robes and instinctively she put both hands against the ground. White pain flared behind her eyes as her broken bone was pushed to keep her up. A loud groan escaped at the pain. She cradled her arm against her body hoping she wouldn't hurt it worse.

Hagrid would make things better. He might even shake James a bit for her. The pang in her heart increased when she thought of James. Yes, she loved him. Bitterness crept into Lily once she reached Hagrid's hut and found him gone. She was ready to march back to the castle and beat James with her fists. Lily looked around in despair hoping Hagrid would appear in front of her with Fang.

No such thing happened and Lily began her trek back to the castle. Across the grounds the castle Lily could make out a shaggy black dog.

It was the full moon and no doubt Moony was already in the Shrieking Shack.

"Lily?"

In the darkness Lily couldn't make out who called her. The rain didn't help either.

"James?" she called out.

"Lily?" the voice called out again. Not James, Lily realized. She had heard the voice before…

"Lily…"

Lily felt a cold hand squeeze her heart and she became very still. Lily turned around wondering at the sick joke.

But she faced the speaker. Lily's heart skipped a beat.

Cosimo Evans stared at Lily, a smile playing on his lips.

"D…dad?" Lily chocked out.

"Oh my child…"

Lily shook her head. Her father was standing no more than five feet away. Healthy, alive!

"You are supposed to be dead!" Lily whispered.

"I am precious, I am dead."

Lily looked around.

"Then _what_ are you? An illusion?"

Cosimo Evans laughed. Lily felt the hand around her heart tightened.

"What are you doing here?"

"We've come to take you home," he pulled out a wand and smiling brought it to point at Lily.

"_INCENDIO!"_

A thin sprout of flame shot out from his wand and headed towards Lily.

"_PROTEGO!" _

The spell rebounded and hit a patch of grass. Fire consumed the grass, but it quickly died and the grass was replaced.

"What are you doing?!" Lily shouted.

"Bringing you home"

"But you don't _DO_ magic! You are a Muggle!"

"Do you want more proof that I am no Muggle," he laughed. Lily turned and ran; dodging as many hexes and curses as possible.

When she turned again to check if he was still chasing her, Lily tripped. Her broken wrist banged against the ground and Lily was unable to prevent herself from crying out.

"Does that hurt, Lily…why don't you come to mum?"

Lily turned to see Sophie Evans. Green eyes and red hair met her eyes.

"Damn you! You're supposed to be dead!"

"Come to me," Sophie Evans called out.

"What the bloody hell do you want!?"

"Come home to us! Come home!" Sophie Evans called to her.

"You are dead mum! Dead!"

"But we miss you darling. I even brought you a present."

From the folds of her clothes, her mum brought out a Washambella.

"Shite!"

Lily began to back away, keeping the Washambella and her mother in sight. She watched the woman's steady hand as she pointed the wand at her, waiting for Lily to make a sudden move for her wand. Lily cursed mentally as she realized that it was inside her robes. Her foot caught a root of a small shrub and tripped. The fall brought waves of white agonizing pain to her wrist. Lily bit into her lip until she felt the weak metallic taste of blood in her tongue.

Lily pulled herself away from her mother while her eyes searched for a way out. It was while she was doing so that she saw two more figures coming towards them. Hooded in black cloaks and white masks, it didn't take Lily long to make the connection of Death Eaters inside the Hogwarts' wards. She turned back to watch the person who was usurping Sophie Evans. A Death Eater, Lily knew as she kept slowly moving towards Lily.

She couldn't get up. Her only way to get away was to drag herself away, while one hand felt around for something that might help. "_There!"_ Lily carefully let her right hand clung around a stone. She made herself wait until her mother usurper was less than two feet away.

Lily's breath still came in sharp gasps. As Sophie Evans neared, Lily took a deep breath in order to prevent herself from breathing the Washambella's scent. Sophie Evans laughed as Lily held her breath.

Lily threw the stone and saw it shatter the woman's nose. She didn't wait after that but rolled away and ran toward the castle.

Not far Lily saw Sirius barking happily chasing his tail.

"Sirius!" Lily shouted, "Sirius!" Behind her she heard the cracks of apparition out of the wards.

Padfoot had stopped chasing his tail to listen.

"Sirius!" Lily called again.

Sirius immediately turned towards Lily.

Running Sirius made his way to Lily. Half way there he was running in two legs rather than four.

"Jumping Gargoyles, Lily!" he pulled her towards him. "What happened to you?" His gaze took in her muddy robes and her wrist sticking at an angle.

"Help me! Please!" Lily managed to say "Madame Pomfrey."

"Lily, take a deep breath. We can't go back to the castle right now."

Lily's face gained a green tinge.

"Why not?"

"Teachers are searching the castle. Someone has been fooling around with the wards and they have been down. All students are to stay inside their rooms. Dumbledore doesn't want the news to spread that the wars are down. James has the map and the cloak."

Lily groaned. "That means automatic expulsion if we get caught. And I think I saw Death Eaters a few minutes ago."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, amusement gone form his eyes.

Lily nodded. "They Apparated out though." Another groan escaped her.

"Shh! don't worry Lily. I'll take you to the shack."

Lily groaned louder and barely heard Sirius' chuckle.

"What about Remus?"

"I'll have to transfigure you," he said firmly. Lily noted that he was trying to sound calm.

She fainted.

When Lily regained consciousness, she felt small and furry. She was a cat. Slowly Lily began to cry pityingly. Padfoot barked at her and licked her face. Lily tried to turn away but he clasped his jaws in her small neck and carried her to the willow.

Lily didn't see much of what was happening, her pain had subsided now that she no longer was walking. Slowly Lily fell asleep.

The pain in her wrist woke her up. She was alone in a bed and the barks and howl from downstairs told her she was in the Shrieking Shack with Sirius and Moony.

It was minutes when Sirius returned, but not as a dog. Lily still being a cat couldn't reprimand him, but instead snarled at him.

Sirius laughed at her and saw how she followed him with her eyes.

Sirius locked the door and used some handy spell to keep Remus out.

"I'd rather not take any chances" was all he said.

"Are you stupid?" Lily found herself saying. "Oh, I can talk again!" Lily said happily. "What do you mean by turning yourself back into yourself Sirius! Surely Remus is around."

"Yes and I trust that he understand when I told him to remain away until Prongs comes in."

Lily looked away.

"Now, I think that we should clean you up. _Scourgify!"_

Lily's robes suddenly became clean and her hair turned into a bun. Lily smiled; Sirius returned the smile and took out a small mirror out of his robes.

"JAMES POTTER!" he screamed, "Oh, sorry! I didn't know you were listening," Sirius said lowering his voice.

"What happened? You agreed at four!" his voice sounded weary.

"Yeah, well we didn't count on Lily coming out of nowhere and looking like a –"

"Lily! Is she–"

"She is alive, she is not badly hurt – just a broken wrist." Sirius answered trying not to smile.

"Are you sure?" James asked preoccupied.

"Yes, James, now could you get here with the cloak. Remus and Peter are down stairs. I'll be upstairs."

"Okay, but let me –" Sirius ignored James and put the mirror back inside his pocket and patting it on the side.

"All right, Lily, James is coming. I'll have to transfigure you back into a cat until you are out of the Willow. The wards should be back on by now. We'll go to the Infirmary and then we can talk to Dumbledore."

Lily nodded in consent. "_FERULAR!" _Tight bandages held her broken wrist in place.

"Thanks Sirius," Lily said.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

…oooOOO0OOOooo…

James came into the room as a dazzling white stag. The magnificent animal looked around the room and seeking another life, seeing no one he turned into his human form. He moved around the room so e more until his eyes fell on the small cat on the bed.

"What a pretty kitty you are" he said, petting the head of the cat. He picked the cat and noticed the bandages.

"Lily?"

In response Lily scratched him across the face. James dropped her.

"OUCH! Vicious cat, pity that you're cute!"

At the same moment Padfoot walked in. He barked at James and climbed the bad to grab the cat by its neck.

The cat now purring happily, James transfigured back into a stag. Together they followed the long tunnel out of the Shack. Ahead of them, Lily heard snarling noises, Sirius gently settled Lily down and went ahead to check on Remus.

Lily began to cry pityingly again but she stopped once she remembered that James was the only person with her. She tried to stand in four legs and immediately sank down meowing. James grabbed her by the tail, trying to help her balance. Lily became a three headed, razor sharp fury. She used her three paws to attack as much of James' face as possible.

James held on to Lily only ten seconds before he realized what was happening. Quickly he dropped her. Lily landed on her feet and limped away from James; she began to groom herself and tried to stop her trembling.

James wasn't as lucky for the ten seconds he had held Lily she had crisscrossed his face. He could feel the warm, sticky blood over his face. James walked to where Lily was, the cat managed to feel his presence before he came too close, Lily glared at him, daring him to come closer.

James didn't dare and was saved from retreating by Sirius' happy bark.

Padfoot trotted back towards Lily; carefully he carried her as if she was a pup. James followed at a distance. When Remus saw Lily he sent her a wonderful howl, Peter sent her a set of squeaks before dashing off to stop the Willow.

Lily meowed for Remus until they were out.

As soon as they were out, Peter returned to the tunnel. Sirius and James left their animagus form and turned her back.

"Thank you, Sirius." She said smiling.

"You are welcome. James –" Sirius stopped to look at his face. "What in the name of Merlin's beard happed to your face?"

"I met a cat on my way out."

"Uh-ha" Sirius murmured staring at Lily, "take Lily to Madame Pomfrey, James."

Sirius turned to leave but Lily stopped him.

"What do you mean _he _is going to take me?"

"That _he_ happens to have a name." James pointed out.

"Sirius you take me!"

"I can't Lily; I am stronger than James to keep Remus in check. I also happen to have paws rather than hooves."

"Fine!" Lily said angrily.

"James is okay with it too," Sirius answered before James could say anything.

James ignored him and took out the invisibility cloak. He handed it to Lily, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Don't worry, I won't get my Mudblood hand on it," Lily said offended.

"I never said anything!" James shouted.

"Well you might as well have, with the look you gave me when you handed it over to me."

"Lily –"

"_Evans – _I am _Evans_ to you _Potter_." Lily's voice was glacier cold. James looked stricken.

"_Ms. Evans _would you mind getting under the cloak so that I can take you to the hospital wing."

He did not look at her.

She took the cloak from his hands and a tingle ran down her back as they touched. James silently helped Lily in, and then threw the cloak over him too.

"Not even a day and I am already sorry," Lily murmured.

"What?" James asked.

"Nothing Potter, tell me, how far are you taking me?"

"All the way," James said glancing at Lily.

"You don't have to.'  
"Well, I wouldn't have bothered but I don't think that these scratches do anything for my complexion."


End file.
